UC-NRLF 


'jr>  <rrs. 


• 


SEVEN 
YEARS 

WITH   THE 


INDIANS 


FRED  LOCKLEY 

RARE  WESTERN  BOOKS 

4227  S.  E.  Stark  St. 
PORTLAND.  ORE. 


THIS  BOOK  is  DEDICATED  TO  MY  FAMILY  AND 
FRIENDS. 

OWEN  P.    DABNEY* 


TRUE  STORY 


THE    LOST  SHACKLE 


Seven  Years  with  the  Indians. 


OWEN  P.  DABNEY, 


COPYRIGHTED    1897. 

BY  OWEN  P.   DABNEY. 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  farewell  visit  to  the  old  home. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Th*  long  journey  to  the  far  west.  Lillian  and  iMathew's  adventure 
with  an  Indian.  Their  destination  reached. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  firt t  year  in  their  new  home.  A  perilous  night.  Lillian  Ainsley 
disappears. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  stricken  parents.     The  search  for  Lillian. 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  movements  of  the  Indians  with  their  captive. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Bessie.  A  narrow  escape.  Mathew's  adventure  with  a  savage  animal. 
The  Rancner's  prosperity.  The  Prospector  and  the  Miners.  The 
Stockman  and  the  Indians. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Matthew's  twenty-first  birthday.  Preparations  made  to  search  for 
Lillian.  His  journey  through  the  Yellowstone  country.  Winter 
in  the  Yellowstone  National  Park.  Description.  The  lone 
Indian. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Mathew's  journey  resumed.  The  discovery  of  a  strange  cabin. 
Midnight  adventure  with  an  Indian.  A  clue  to  Lillian.  Sun 
shine  Shadowed.  Travels  down  the  Gallatin  River.  Across  the 
country  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri  River.  A  strange 
companion. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A  strange  companion.  The  old  man's  story.  Matthew's  journey 
resumed. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Lillian  and  Lewanna's  discovery  of  a  beautiful  cave  in  the  moun 
tains.  Lillian's  sicknes.  A  dream  of  home. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

The  band  of  buffalo  and  Indians.     Mathew's  journey  northwat 
Evidence  of  Lillian's  captivity.  In  the  clutches  of  the  robbers, 
strange  dream. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Mathew  a  prisoner.  His  escape.  Helpless  and  alone  in  the  mou 
tains  to  die.  Found  and  saved  by  Lillian  and  Lewanna. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  warrior's  discovery  of  Lillian's  disappearance.  Lewatma's  crui 
treatment.  Mathew  and  Lillian's  journey  home.  Their  narro 
escape  at  a  miner's  camp.  Home  at  last.  Their  greeting. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

In  Conclusion. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  farewell  visit  to  the  old  home. 

About  forty  years  ago  John  Ainsley  and  Robert  Bently 
who  had  been  warm  friends  since  early  boyhood  and  who 
had  lived  upon  adjacent  farms  for  many  years,  resolved  to 
break  loose  from  the  many  ties  which  bound  and  endeared 
them  to  their  old  home  in  western  Iowa,  and  seek  new 
homes  in  the  far  west. 

Mr.  Ainsley 's  family  consisted  of  his  wife  and  two  daugh 
ters,  Lillian  who  was  then  fourteen  and  little  Bessie  who 
had  just  passed  her  eighth  birthday;  while  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bently  had  but  one  child,  Mathew,  aged  fifteen. 

In  those  days  it  required  a  great  deal  of  bravery  and  en 
terprise  to  start  out  as  these  families  did,  not  only  leaving 
home  and  friends,  but  leaving  civilization  behind  them. 
The  undertaking  was  fraught  with  so  much  risk  and  danger 
that  people  who  sought  new  homes  in  the  west  rarely  re 
turned  inside  of  many  years  if  ever. 

At  that  time  the  maps  of  the  west  were  very  incomplete, 
but  after  careful  consideration  Mr.  Bently  and  Mr.  Ainsley 
j  decided  to  follow  up  the  Missouri  river  for  a  considerable 
distance  and  then  bear  off  more  tc  the  westward. 

Mr.  Ainsley 's  parents  lived  about  twenty  miles  distant 
and  only  a  little  off  the  route  decided  upon  and  so  it  was 
arranged  that  both  families  would  stop  and  spend  a  few 
days  at  the  old  homestead. 

Nearly  half  a  century  before  this  the  elder  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ainsley  and  a  few  others,  including  Robert  Bently's  parents, 
had  started  out  as  their  sons  were  now  doing  to  what  was 
then  known  as  the  far  west  and  had  settled  upon  this  land 
when  it  was  a  part  of  the  wilderness.  Here  they  had  lived 


THE  JX)ST  SHACKLE. 


and  ^rown  old  together;'  here  their  children  were  born  and 
had  growp -&£;t©;matih$o4  and  womanhood. 

They  had  seen  the  wilderness  transformed  into  a  settled 
and  prosperous  country.  The  Pottawottamie  Indians  had 
gradually  given  way  to  the  white  settlers  until  now  the 
land  of  the  red  man  was  dotted  over  with  farms  and  vil 
lages,  the  country  was  no  longer  new,  and  people  were 
again  pushing  on  to  the  westward. 

It  was  nearly  noon  when  the  wagons  pulled  up  at  the 
old  Ainsley  place.  It  being  the  latter  part  of  August  the 
weather  was  dry  and  hot  and  traveling  very  tedious  and  it 
was  with  a  feeling  ef  great  relief  that  they  climbed  down 
from  the  dusty  wagons. 

Father  and  Mother  Ainsley  were  expecting  them  and 
were  now  coming  down  the  long  path  through  the  garden 
to  meet  them.  The  children  rushed  into  their  grand 
parents'  arms.  After  many  warm  greetings  had  been  ex 
changed  old  Mrs.  Ainsley  led  the  way  to  the  house,  followed 
by  the  feminine  portion  of  the  party,  while  Father  Ainsley 
and  the  rest  set  about  caring  for  the  horses,  cattle,  chick 
ens,  etc.,  which  the  Bentlys  and  Ainsleys  were  taking  with 
them  on  their  long  journey  across  the  country. 

The  day  was  very  warm  but  a  visitor  at  the  olil  Ainsley 
place  was  never  conscious  of  the  extreme  heat,  for  the 
house  was  surrounded  by  fine  old  oaks  and  elms  which 
were  mere  shrubs  when  the  land  was  settled  by  Mr. 
Ainsley  nearly  fifty  years  before,  and  the  soft  breeze  was 
fragrant  with  the  odor  of  these  sweet  oJd  fashioned  flowers 
which  always  grew  in  Grandma  Ainsley's  dooryard. 

The  table  was  set  out  under  one  of  the  old  elms  and 
dinner  was  ready  and  waiting  when  the  men  came  up  from 
the  barn.  The  dinner,  like  everything  else  about  the  plac  e, 
was  old  fashioned  and  delicious  and  being  served  as  it  was, 
out  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  among  the  birds  and  the  flow 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  3 

ers,  an  undescribable  charm  was  added  to  the  sweet  restful- 
ness  of  the  occasion . 

After  the  children  had  finished  their  dinner  and  gone 
off  about  their  play,  the  older  people  lingered  a  long  while 
and  visited,  there  were  so  many  things  to  talk  about  and 
the  time  of  parting  was  drawing  so  near. 

All  tried  to  appear  cheerful  but  there  was  an~undercur- 
rent  of  sadness  which  was  very  hard  to  cast  aside. 

The  starting  away  of  these  young  people  into  the  far 
west  recalled  to  the  elder  Ainsleys  the  time  when  they 
themselves  had  left  their  old  New  England  home  and  had 
said  to  their  parents  and  friends  as  they  bade  them  farewell , 
'We  will  come  back  again  in  a  few  years."  They  recalled 
how  the  few  years  had  lengthened  into  many  and  how, 
finally,  when  it  was  possible  for  them  to  return  it  was  too 
late,  the  dear  parents  were  no  longer  there  to  greet  them; 
the  loved  ones  whom  they  would  have  returned  to  see  had 
been  quietiy  lain  away  to  rest  in  the  old  church  yard. 
Time  had  passed  on  and  they  were  now  bending  under  the 
weight  of  nearly  seventy  years  and  they  fully  realized  that 
this  parting  would  also  be  a  final  one. 

Not  so  with  the  younger  Ainsleys,  just  starting  out  into 
a  new  life  where  they  would  find  new  surroundings,  form 
new  ties  and  gradually  grow  away  from  the  old.  While 
they  exceedingly  regretted  leaving  their  aged  parents,  still 
they  were  reconciled  by  the  thought  that  they  would  surely 
return  within  A  very  few  years  and  take  their  parents  back 
with  them  to  their  new  home  in  the  west. 

But  as  their  visit  drew  to  a  close  and  the  time  of  part 
ing  was  close  at  hand  they  found  it  far  harder  to  bid  fare 
well  to  the  parents  and  the  old  home  than  they  had  antic 
ipated.  They  wandered  about,  here  and  there,  among  the 
happy  scenes  of  childhood.  Each  tree  and  flower,  the 
songs  of  the  birds, — everything  seemed  to  remind  them  that 


4  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

they  were  leaving  the  home  of  their  youth,  possibly  never  to 
return . 

The  children  were  the  only  ones  who  were  light  hearted 
and  happy.  How  they  revelled  in  the  beautiful  surround- 
ings  of  the  dear  old  place,  romping  in  the  meadows  where 
the  men  were  making  hay;  or  roaming  through  the  wood 
land,  gathering  wild  flowers  and  berries;  or  wandering 
along  the  sandy  bars  of  the  old  Missouri  River,  with  their 
fishing  tackle  and  well  filled  lunch-  baskets. 

The  few  days  had  passed  by  only  too  rapidly  and  the 
morning  set  for  leaving  had  now  arrived.  The  teams 
hitched  to  the  covered  wagons  were  before  the  gate  the 
cattle  which  had  been  turned  out  of  the  corral  were  feeding 
slowly  down  the  lane,  and  everything  was  in  readiness  for 
our  little  party  of  emigrants  to  get  started  on  their  long- 
westward  journey. 

Dear  old  Mrs.  Ainsley  tried  to  speak  bravely  and  hope 
fully  as  she  continued  tucking  away  all  sortsof  good  things 
in  the  already  well  filled  lunch  baskets. 

Grandfather  had  mysteriously  disappeared  and  now  they 
were  only  waiting  for  his  return.  Presently  he  came  in 
sight  leading  a  beautiful  black  pony,  allsaddled  and  bridled' 
his  parting  gift  to  Lillian. 

N.IT'6,11,'"1,,1?01116  grCatly  attache<Mo  Nero,  the  large 
New^undland  dog  and  he  was  to  go  along  as  her  special 


„  0 —  ..„„  „,  nijj.au  Luuie  10  eacn  of 

you  '•  ,aU°  t0  Math**  Be°«y,  with  a    "Godbless 

Her  heart  was  too  full  to  say  any  more. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  5 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  longjourney  to  the  far  west.     Lillian  and  Mathew's    adrenture 
with  an  Indian.     Their  destination  reached. 

For  several  days  our  little  party  journeyed  along  witk 
little  of  interest  to  anyone  excepting  the  children,  who  found 
great  pleasure  in  riding  horse  back.  Matthew  had  also  re 
ceived  a  beautiful  bay  pony,  a  gift  from  his  uncle,  and  he 
and  Lillian  w^ere  thoroughly  enjoying  each  mile  of  the  way, 
laughing,  chatting,  and  running  races  out  of  sight  of  their 

parents.     Mathew  found  this  far  more  pleasant  and  more  to 
his  taste  than  helping  drive  the  cattle. 

The  days  passed  slowly  by  with  little  to  break  the  mono 
tony  or  vary  the  daily  routine  and  our  little  party  had  been 

three  weeks  on  the  road  without  any  serious  interruption  or 
accident  of  any  kind. 

Mathew  and  Lillian's  parents  were  at  first  very  watchful 
of  them  lest  they  wander  too  far  ahead  of  the  party  and 
were  ever  cautioning  them  to  always  remain  in  sight  of  the 
wagons,  but  day  after  day  passing  without  any  mishap,  it 
was  natural  for  them  to  grow  a  little  more  careless. 

They  were  now  passing  through  a  wild  looking  region, 
very  sparsely  settled.  What  few  inhabitants  they  saw  were 
kalf  breed  Indians  who  apparently  lived  by  hunting  and 
fishing.  The  roads  seemed  very  lonely  and  unfreqnented 
and  were  little  better  than  ordinary  Indian  trails. 

On  one  occasion  Mathew  and  Lillian  had  wandered  farther 
ahead  than  usual  and  as  they  rode  leisurely  along,  a  turn  in 
the  trail  led  them  into  a  deep  gulch  or  ravine. 

On  either  side  the  steep,  rugged  bluffs  rose  abruptly  be 
fore  them  with  clumps  of  bushes,  scrub  pines  and  cedars 
growing  here  and  there  among  the  rocks. 

Occasionally  a  little  stream  would  add  to  the  charm  of  the 

wild,  lonely  scene  by  sending  its  bright  waters  trickling  off 
down  the  stony  bluffs. 


6  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

Before  they  had  gone  very  far  a  feeling  of  loneliness  crept 
over  both  Lillian  and  Mathew  and  they  regretted  having 
ventured  so  far  ahead  of  the  wagons.  It  was  now  time  to 
take  up  camp  and  while  both  secretly  felt  a  little  frightened 
and  apprehensive,  each  disliked  to  acknowledge  to  the  other 
so  cowardly  a  thing  as  a  feeling  of  timidity,  so  they  wan 
dered  slowly  on. 

The  way  grew  more  and  more  rugged  and  the  scenery 
more  wild,  and  finally  Lillian  suggested  that  they  turn  back. 
Mathew  at  first  demurred  but  noticing  that  the  sun  was  fast 
sinking  behind  the  western  hills  and  the  evening  shadows 
were  lengthening,  he  was  very  glad  she  had  made  the  sug 
gestion.  He  had  seen  no  gaod  camping  place  in  the  gulch. 
He  knew  they  would  wish  to  stop  for  the  night  where  there 
was  plenty  of  wood,  water  and  good  feed  for  the  stock,  all 
of  which  could  be  found  along  the  river  which  he  and  Lilli 
an  had  left  when  they  entered  the  gulch,  so  he,  too,  con 
eluded  that  Jhey  had  better  turn  back. 

They  had  not  gone  far  down  the  gulch  when  Mathew- 
descried  off  some  little  distance  to  the  right,  an  object 
crouching  stealthily  behind  a  tree.  He  gave  a  slight  ex 
clamation  of  alarm  which  he  quickly  checked  that  he  might 
not  frighten  Lillian,  but  she  too  had  seen  the  object  and 
knew  it  to  be  an  Indian,  directly  past  whom  they  must  ride. 

"Keep  cool,  Lillian!"  whispered  Mathew,  "Let  us  spur 
our  horses  to  their  utmost  and  we  may  be  able  to  distance 
him." 

They  could  see  by  his  stealthy  movements  that  he  meant 
mischief  and  realizing  their  great  danger  they  urged  their 
horses  forward  with  keen  cuts  of  the  whip.  The  wiry  little 
creatures  surprised  and  smarting  under  such  treatment 
sprang  violently  forward.  Lillian's  horse  nearly  unseated 
her  but  with  the  tenacity  of  a  person  in  desperate  fear  she 
clung  to  the  saddle  and  instantly  righted  herself.  Down 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  7 

the  gulch  th^y  rode  at  breackneck  speed.  The  Indian 
seeing  that  he  had  been  discovered,  quickly  drew  aim  and 
launched  an  arrow  directly  at  Mathew's  head.  Missing  its 
aim,  the  arrow  whizzed  harmlesly  into  the  brush  on  the 
3ther  side  of  the  gulch.  The  next  one  came  so  close  as  to 
^raze  his  coat  sleeve,  but  before  a  third  could  come  they 
were  out  of  reach  of  the  arrows  and  in  a  few  moments  more 
:hey  were  back  to  the  entrance  of  the  gulch,  in  sight  of  the 
wagons. 

Though  they  now  felt  comparatively  safe  they  did  not 
Iraw  rein  until  they  were  securely  in  camp  which  had  been 
:aken  up  a  half  hour  before. 

With  blanched  faces  they  related  their  adventure  to  the 
rest  of  the  party  who  had  already  begun  to  feel  very  uneasy 
ibout  them.  Thus  far  no  Indians  excepting  half  breeds 
had  been  seen  and  this  occurence  caused  no  little  conster 
nation  in  the  camp. 

They  had  inquired  at  the  fort  some  seventy  miles  back  in 
regard  to  the  hostile  Sioux,  and  had  been  informed  that 
there  were  no  Indians  at  present  south  of  the  river  as  they 
aad  all  gone  north  during  the  hot  weather  and  were  not 
ikely  to  return  before  the  last  of  October. 

This  information  had  made  our  little  party  feel  quite  se 
cure  and  the  question  now  arose  as  to  whether  this  was 
some  straggler  or  a  member  of  some  renegade  band.  It 
was  thought  best  to  fortify  the  camp  against  any  possible 

attack  and  that  some  one  should  be  placed  on  guard  all 
night. 

Mr.  Ainsley  volunteered  to  watch  during  the  fore  part  of 
the  night  but  no  Indians  were  seen  and  the  quiet  was  only 
Broken  by  the  occasional  cry  of  a  night  hawk  or  the  hoot  of 
a  distant  owl.  At  twelve  o'clock  Mr.  Ainsley  retired  and 
Mr.  Bently  stood  guard. 

The  full  moon  was  just  appearing  above?  ther  eastern  hor- 


8  THE  COST  SHACKLE. 

izon,  every  one  in  camp  was  sound  asleep  excepting  Mr. 
Bentley  and  he  was  half  dozing  when  the  silence  was  sud 
denly  broken  by  a  shrill,  fierce  scream  which  appeared  to 
come  from  the  gulch  where  Lillian  and  Matthew  had 
met  with  their  adventure.  Bveryone  was  awake  in  a  mo 
ment  and  thinking  the  sound  must  be  an  Indian  war-whoop 
they  were  all  up  instantly  and  ready  for  defense. 

Again  they  heard  the  cry,  this  time  much  nearer,  and 
Mr.  Bently  recognized  it  as  the  cry  of  panther. 

It  had  scented  its  prey  and  as  it  came  nearer  the  camp  it 
ceased  its  unearthly  screams.  The  men  redoubled  their 
vigilance  and  rebuilt  their  camp  fires,  hoping  that  it  might 
be  frightened  away.  The  cattle  were  lying  down  between 

the  wagons  and  the  river  and  that  point  was  carefully 
watched. 

Finally  Mr.  Bently  discovered  the  animal  crawling  stealth 
ily  along  the  fringe  of  brush  that  bordered  the  river.  They 
were  glad  to  have  located  their  game  but  quietly  waited  un 
til  it  should  emerge  from  the  shadows  of  the  brush.  At 
length  it  stole  out  into  the  moonlight  towards  where  a 
fine  young  calf  was  lying.  At  a  given  signal  both  men  fired 
and  with  a  blood  curdling  yell  and  a  mighty  leap  the  creat 
ure  fell  headlong  into  the  brush.  As  they  heard  nothing 
more  they  were  quite  sure  the  animal  had  been  killed  and 
in  the  morning  when  they  investigated,  they  found  a  panther 
which  measured  eight  feet  from  tip  to  tip. 

They  were  very  glad  to  have  had  no  more  serious  trouble 
and  concluded  that  the  Indian  was  a  wandering  hunter  who 
had  thought  to  capture  the  children's  ponies. 

The  emigrants  wished  to  settle  somewhere  near  the 
mountains,  and  having  heard  of  the  Yellowstone  valley, 
they  had  it  in  mind,  thinking  it  would  be  a  fine  place  for 
stock  raising  and  agriculture. 

After  a  weary  journey  of  nearly  six  weeks  they  came  to 


THE  LOST  SHACKIvB.  9 

a  delightful  valley  watered  by  a  beautiful  stream.  It  was 
Saturday  and  they  decided  to  remain  there  over  Sunday, 
which  would  enable  them  to  look  over  the  surrounding 
country.  It  was  a.  lovely  spot  in  every  respect.  A  swift 
mountain  brook  here  emptying  its  clear  sparkling  waters 
into  the  river,  and  a  grand  old  cottonwood  grove,  flanked  by 
-  a  thick  growth  of  berry  bushes  and  buck  brush,  made  it  an 
admirable  place  for  camping  and  a  delightful  place  for 
Sabbath  rest. 

Before  them  was  the  beautiful  sheen  of  the  rippling  river 
and  off  in  the  distance  rose  the  snow  capped  peaks  of  the 
Crazy  Mountains. 

The  families  always  aimed  to  spend  the  Sabbath  in  rest 
and  devotion,  as  nearly  as  possible  like  it  would  have  been 
spent  were  they  at  home,* 

Sabbath  morning  dawned,  a  beautiful  Indian  summer 
morning,  and  their  hearis  were  filled  with  thankfulness,  rest 
and  security.  After  they  had  all  read  and  sung  for  a  while, 
the  children  wandered  off  up  the  river,  gathering  pretty 

pebbles  and  watching  the  speckled  trout  jump  up  out  of  the 
river  catching  flies. 

Nero,  the  great  Newfoundland  dog,  went  with  them  and 
in  his*  staid  sober  way  seemed  to  enjoy  the  sport  as  much 
as  the  children,  especially  when  they  began  throwing  sticks 
into  the  water  for  him  to  go  after. 

At  one  point  near  where  they  had  been  wandering,  a  tree 
had  fallen  into  the  water,  making  a  very  nice  place  to  sit. 

The  more  venturesome  Matthew  climbed  out  on  a  limb 
which  he  used  as  a  swing,  but  would  not  allow  Bessie  to  go 
out  on  it  lest  she  fall  into  the  river.  This  did  not  please  the 
little  girl  who  was  rather  self  willed  and  who  very  much  de 
sired  to  swing  on  that  particular  limb.  Accordingly,  while 
I/illian  and  Mathew  were  a  short  distance  away  picking  ber 
ries,  she  quickly  climbed  out  to  the  coveted  seat.  The 


io  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

clear,  swift  running  water  soon  made  her  dizzy,  and  grow 
ing  frightened,  she  hastened  to  climb  from  her  precarious 
perch.  Her  foot  slipped  and  with  a  loud  cry  she  fell  into 
the  river.  Mathew  ran  to  her  assistance  but  ere  he  reached 
the  spot  she  was  being  carried  rapidly  down  the  swift  cur 
rent.  Her  broad  brimmed  hat,  securely  tied  beneath  her 
chin,  acting  as  a  buoy,  kept  her  from  sinking  until  Nero 
caught  sight  of  her.  He  bounded  into  the  water  and  quick 
ly  rescued  his  little  mistress  from  the  cold  mountain  river 
and  laid  her  at  the  feet  of  her  father  who  had  hastened  to 
the  scene  upon  hearing  the  cries  of  the  frightened  child 
ren.  This  was  a  great  adventure  for  Bessie  but  after  her 
fright  had  worn  away,  she  was  none  the  worse  for  her  cold 
and  unexpected  -bath. 

They  remained  in  camp  a  few  days  that  the  men  might 
have  ample  time  to  look  over  the  surrounding  country. 
This  locality  did  not  entirely  meet  with  their  approval  and 
knowing  that  they  were  free  to  choose  from  almost  any  of 
the  land  which  their  eyes  might  survey,  they  journeyed  on 
for  another  week  which  brought  them  to  a  most  beautiful 
part  of  the  Yellowstone  valley,  watered  by  several  mountain 
streams.  This  valley  seemed  to  meet  every  requirement 
and  without  looking  farther  they  decided  to  remain  and 
settle  upon  it. 

At  this  early  date  the  government  had  made  no  survey 
and  so  our  little  party  immediately  set  about  staking  off  as 
much  land  as  they  thought  they  could  handle,  intending 
to  hold  it  by  what  was  known  as  squatter's  rights. 

It  was  a  wild  looking  place  with  buffalo,  elk,  deer  and 
other  game  almost  constantly  in  sight,  and  Indian* trails  up 
and  down  nearly  every  ravine. 

The  soil  was  rich  and  the  feed  excellent  and  they  were 
surprised  and  pleased  to  learn  that  the  grass  cured  in  the 
fall  without  being  cut.  It  retained  nearly  the  same  nutri- 


THS  LOST  SHACKLE.  11 

tion  as  though  it  had  been  made  into  hay  and  so  long  as  the 
snow  was  not  too  deep,  the  stock  did  well  on  it. 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  first    year    in    their    new    home.     A    perilous    night.     Lillian 
Ainsley's  disappearance. 

Our  emigrants  now  settled  down  as  ranchmen  and  began 
at  once  to  get  out  logs  and  build  their  cabins  as  well  as 
sheds  and  corrals  for  their  horses  and  cattle. 

They  made  a  strong  stockade  in  which  to  keep  the  stock 
at  night  that  it  might  not  be  run  off  or  stolen  by  any  band 
of  invading  Indians  who  watched  with  jealous  eye  the  en 
croachment  of  white  settlers  in  their  territory. 

It  was  the  last  of  October  and  while  the  men  were  busy 
preparing  logs  and  putting  up  buildings  it  fell  to  the  lot  of 
Lillian  and  Mathew  to  herd  the  stock.  They  enjoyed  their 
work  very  much  for  they  were  both  fond  of  riding-  and 
loved  to  be  out  where  they  could  enjoy  the  open  air  and 
beautiful  scenery.  The  little  valley  was  almost  surrounded 
by  mountains  which  presented  an  ever  changing  view  as 
from  hour  to  hour  the  shadows  were  changed  by  the  sun 
and  the  clouds. 

Somethimes  the  mountains  would  appear  very  close  by 
and  at  other  times  far  in  the  distance.  On  the  side  of  one 
of  the  steep  mountains  was  a  singular  path  entirely  free 
from  trees  and  rocks  and  extending  from  the  gulch  below 
to  near  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  This,  they  concluded, 
must  have  been  caused  by  an  avalanche.  On  another 
mountain  was  a  somewhat  similar  path  which  was  enclosed 
by  two  parallel  walls  which  seemed  as  regular  and  as  care 
fully  made -as  though  they  had  been  built  by  a  stone  mason. 
This  they  named  the  "Devil's  Slide." 
Mathew  was  quite  an  expert  marksman  and  under  his 


12  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

supervision  Lillian  had  become  nearly  as  proficient  with 
the  rifle.  Many  a  happy  hour  did  they  spend  together 
shooting  small  game  or  catching  trout  in  the  mountain 
stream  and  often  when  evening  came  they  would  carry 
home  a  fine  string  of  fish  or  mess  of  grouse  as  they  drove 
in  the  stock. 

Game  of  all  kinds  was  very  plentiful  and  the  settlers  took 
occasion  to  supply  themselves  with  venison  and  other  wild 
meat  before  winter  set  in. 

Everything  moved  on  smoothly  and  both  families  were 
very  tiappy  in  their  new  home  in  the  mountains  and  while 
they  loved  to  think  and  talk  of  their  former  home  and 
friends  yet  they  were  far  too  busy  to  be  homesick. 

They  lacked  nearly  all  of  the  luxuries  and  a  great  many 
of  the  ordinary  comforts  and  conveniences  of  a  well  regu 
lated  home  in  the  east  but  they  cheerfully  made  the  most 
of  what  they  had  and  cultivated  the  spirit  of  contentment. 

It  'was  a  common  thing  to  see  Indians  passing  along  the 
creeks  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  and  the  settlers 
were  growing  accustomed  to  them  and  felt  no  alarm  even 
when  they  came  in  greater  numbers  hunting  and  trapping 
beaver  which  were  so  plentiful  along  the  mountain  streams. 

Frequently  the  Indians  would  stop  and  beg  food  which 
was  never  refused  them,  partly  because  the  settlers  enter 
tained  a  kindly  feeling  towards  the  Indians  and  partly  as  a 
matter  of  policy  for  they  fully  realized  their  own  lack  of 
strength  and  did  not  wish  to  provoke  the  ill  will  of  the  In 
dians  who,  as  yet,  had  shown  no  signs  of  molesting  them. 

It  was  now  January  and  although  considerable  snow  had 
fallen  in  the  mountains  very  little  had  fallen  in  the  valley. 
No  winter  morning  could  have  been  more  perfect  than  this; 
the  air  was  soft  and  balmy,  a  chinook  breeze  causing  the 
snow  to  pack  a  little. 

Mr.  Ainsley  concluded,  while  the  sleding  was  good  and 


THE  LO'ST  SHACKLE.  13 

the  weather  so  fine,  to  go  to  the  mountains  several  miles 
distant  and  bring  down  some  logs  and  poles  ready  to  use 
early  in  the  spring  in  improving  his  place. 

He  made  an  early  start  and  soon  reached  the  foothills 
and  as  he  passed  along  over  the  gradually  ascending  road 
the  country  seemed  wild  and  lonely  to  him.  He  carefully 
examined  his  gun  to  make  sure  that  it  was  ready  for  instant 
use  and  was  just  replacing  it  when  he  saw  a  large  animal 
emerge  from  the  clump  of  underbrush  which  he  was  pass 
ing.  It  was  perhaps  forty  feet  from  him  and  walked  leis 
urely  along  occasionally  eyeing  him  as  though  meditating 
an  attack.  It  stopped  and  was  getting  in  position  to  spring 
when  Mr.  Ainsley  quickly  brought  his  rifle  to  his  shoulder 
and  fired.  The  mules  startled  by  the  click  of  the  gun 
•moved  the  sled  a  little  and  he  missed  aim. 

With  flashing  eyes  the  animal  made  one  terrible  bound 
toward  him  but,  owing  to  the  depth  of  the  snow,  it  had  not 
gathered  sufficient  force  and  fell  within  about  six  feet  of 
him.  Again  Mr.  Ainsley  brought  the  gun  to  his  shoulder 
and  as  the  animal  was  ready  to  make  a  second  spring  fired 
at  him  once  more.  The  savage  creature  dropped  in  the 
snow  but  whether  it  was  killed  or  not  Mr.  Ainsley  was  un 
able  to  decide  for  the  frighteded  mules  dashed  ahead  at  a 
furious  rate  and  his  whole  attention  was  required  in  getting 
them  under  control. 

By  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  Mr.  Ainsley  had  his  load 
and  was  ready  to  start  home.  He  drove  briskly  along  for 
the  weather  was  growing  colder.  When  he  reached  the 
place  of  his  morning's  encounter  there  lay,  cold  and  stiff,  a 
huge  mountain  lion.  As  quickly  as  possible  he  removed  its 
hide  and  loaded  it  on  his  sled. 

Glancing  to  the  northward  he  naticed  a  heavy  cloud  en- 
velopirig  the  mountains.  He  hurried  the  mules  onward  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  hoping  it  was  a  wind  cloud  which 


14  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

would  soon  pass  over,  but  when  he  had  gone  only  a  short 
distance  further  one  of  those  phenomenal  storms  called  a 
blizzard  burst  suddenly  upon  him.  The  sun  was  almost 
instantly  obscured;  the  air  seemed  full  of  cutting  sleet  and 
show  and  the  weather  had  grown  intensely  cold.  With 
much  difficulty  he  threw  off  his  load  that  he  might  travel 
faster.  Maddened  by  the  severity  of  the  storm  the  mules 
became  almost  unmanageable  and  twice  while  he  was  re 
moving  his  load  they  came  near  getting  away  from  him. 
He  now  fully  realized  his  danger,  having  seen  similar  storms 
in  Iowa,  though  never  one  so  severe  as  this  proved  to  be. 
He  adjusted  the  hide  on  the  sled  and  seating  himself  as 
firmly  as  possible  started  on  his  race  for  life.  He  knew 
not  whether  the  team-  would  take  him  home  but  being  un 
able  to  see  to  guide  the  mules  it  was  only  left  for  him  to 
trust  to  their  segacity. 

Maddened  by  the  fierce  winds  and  s,now  they  ran  as  they 
had  never  run  before.  In  many  places  the  way  was  so 
rough  that  the  sled  was  thrown  from  side  to  side  and  it  was 
with  no  little  difficulty  that  Mr.  Ainsley  retained  his  seat. 
On,  on  they  sped  over  hills,  boulders  and  through  ravines, 
little  knowing  how  or  when  they  might  end  and  fearing 
each  moment  might  be  the  last. 

The  buffalo  robe  which  he  tried  to  wrap  about  him  was 
little  protection  from  the  cold  and  snow,  for  it  was  impossi 
ble  to  keep  it  in  place.  He  gradually  grew  numb,  then 
drowsy.  He  no  longer  felt  the  cold.  His  thoughts  of  home 
and  friends  and  of  his  great  danger  were  no  longer  clear  as 
at  breakneck  speed  the  mules  rushed  madly  on. 

He  was  just  dozing  off  into  unconsciousness  when  the 
mules  made  a  quick  turn  and'came  to  a  sudden  halt. 

Rousing  himself  with  a^mightyj" effort  he  discovered  that 
the  trusty  animals  had  stopped  at  the  gate  in  front  of  his 
cabin  door  where  his  anxious  family  had  long  been  watch- 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  15 

ing  for  him.  Coving  hands  quickl}-  assisted  him  to  the 
house  and  attended  to  his  needs.  The  faithfnl  mules  were 
next  cared  for  and  ever  afterward  remembered  with  very 
kind  treatment.  The  mountain  lion  skin  was  made  into  a 
handsome  rug  which,  as  it  lay  before  the  large  old  fashioned 
fireplace,  often  reminded  Mr.  Ainsley  of  his  perilous  ride 
in  the  blizzard  on  that  terrible  winter's  night. 

In  many  ways  the  winter  seemed  very  long  but  spring 
time  came  at  last  with  all  its  welcome  freshness.  The 
tender  grass  came  forth  covering  the  valley  with  a  mantle 
of  velvet;  countless  numbers  of  beautiful  wild  flowers  dot 
ted  the  hill  tops  and  mountain  sides;  the  birds  returned 
and  once  more  cheered  the  valley  with  their  happy  song. 

It  was  now  a  busy  time  for  the  settlers.  Gardens  must 
be  made,  more  fencing  done,  some  grain  put  in,  irrigating 
ditches  dug,  and  so  many  things  of  various  kinds  that  in 
dividing  the  labor  it  was  thought  best  for  Mathew  to  help 
the  men  and  for  Lillian  to  herd  the  stock. 

Lillian  greatly  enjoyed  her  free  mountain  life  and  loved 
to  be  out  from  morning  until  night.  Having  formerly  been 
always  accompanied  by  Matthew  she  had  grown  so  accus 
tomed  to  his  companionship  that  she  felt  exceedingly  lone 
ly  and  missed  him  continually  as  she  herded  the  cattle  over 
the  hills  and  through  the  vales;  but  especially  was  she 
lonely  at  noontime  when  she  had  rounded  up  the  cattle  in 
some  shady  place,  picketed  her  pony  and  sat  down  by  her 
self  to  eat  her  noonday  lunch. 

While  the  cattle  browsed  off  the  willow  twigs  or  lay 
about  on  the  grass  or  perhaps  waded  in  the  cool  mountain 
brook,  Lillian  would  often  take  out  the  little  bible  which 
Grandma  Ainsley  had  given  her  and  spend  a  quiet  hour 
perusing  its  sacred  pages. 

Sometimes  as  she  quetly  sat  there  day  dreaming  amid  the 
soft  air  delicately  scented  with  wild  flowers,  the  gently 


16  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

murmuring  brook  and  the  sweet  songs  of  the  meadowlark, 
she  would  be  lulled  into  a  quiet  nap  and  sleep  until  the 
cattle  began  to  grow  restless  and  wander  off.  In  one  of 
these  cozy  resting  places  was  a  large  peculiarly  shaped  fir 
tree  which  Lillian  particularly  liked.  It  overshadowed:[a 
babbling  spring  and  a  large  irregularly  shaped  rock  which 
was  overrun  with  wild  honeysuckle.  Ferns  and  wild 
flowers  grew  there  in  abundance.  Some  of  the  limbs  were 
gnailed  and  bent  over  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  very 
comfortable  seat. 

Oftentimes  on  the  Sabbath  the  two  families  would  carry 
their  dinners  and  spend  the  whole  day  in  this  delightful 
spot. 

While  the  older  people  enjoyed  the  rest  and  change,  the 
children  Bwere  happy  with  their  books  and  games.  One 
afternoon  Matthew  took  his  jackknife  and  carved  Lillian's 
and  his  initials  on  the  old  tree.  To  their  surprise  and 
amusement  they  saw  that  their  initials  had  spelled  the  word 
"Lamb"  and  henceforth  in  speaking  of  the  retreat  it  was 
always  called  the  "Lamb  Tree." 

At  another  time  when  Matthew  was  climbing  about 
among  the  top  branches  he  found  the  skull  and  jaw  bone  of 
an  Indian  and  proudly  placed  them  among  the  specimens 
in  his  cabinet. 

The  summer  was  wearing  away  and  nearly  a  year  had 
now  passed  without  the  settlers  having  been  molested  in 
any  way  by  the  Indians  and  the  Indians  appeared  to  feel 
very  friendly  towards  these  families  who  always  treated 
them  so  kindly.  Both  families  were  always  more  or  less  on 
their  guard,  still  they  felt  comparatively  safe  and  did  not 
apprahend  any  serious  trouble  with  the  Indians.  How 
little  the  Ainsleys  foresaw  the  calamity  which  was«so  soon 
to  bring  sorrow  to  their  happy,  peaceful  home. 
Lillian  had  now  grown  accustomed  to  Mathew's  absence 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  17 

and  seldom  thought  of  feeling  lonely  any  more  for  the  birds, 
the  flowers  and  the  brooks  were  her  friends,  and  the  gentle 
fleet-footed  Gypsy  her  inseparable  companion,  and  she  was 
more  than  ever  attached  to  the  lovely  valley  and  beautiful 
mountains. 

Since  the  August  heat  had  grown  so  oppressive  she 
would  often,  after  eating  her  noonday  lunch,  indulge  in  a 
quiet  little  nap  which  greatly  refreshed  her  for  her  after- 
aoon's  work. 

One  sultry  morning  she  had  taken  the  cattle  to  the  hills 
as  usual  and  at  noontime  had  rounded  them  up  under  the 
old  Lamb  tree.  Then  forming  a 'little  pillow  of  moss  and 
ferns  she  was  soon  fast  asleep  and  being  unusually  drowsy 
slept  very  soundly  for  some  time.  A  slight  crackling  of  the 
brush  near  her  caused  her  to  awaken  with  a  start  and  to  her 
intense  horror  she  found  herself  surrounded  by  savages  who 
were  arranged  in  a  circle  about  her. 

Astonished  and  terrified  she  lay  perfectly  quiet  almost 
fearing  to  breathe.  What  should  she  do?  What  could  she 
do  to  save  herself?  As  she  realized  her  utter  helplessness 
she  offered  up  a  little  prayer  that  God  would  protect  her  and 
give  her  strength. 

Wl^en  the  Indians  saw  her  eyes  open  they  began  talking 
among  themselves  in  their  gruff,  gutteral  language  and  she 
knew  from  their  looks  and  actions  that  they  were  meditat 
ing  no  good  to  her.  With  all  the  calmness  she  could  pos 
sibly  command  she  roused  up  but  with  sinking  heart  saw 
that  a  stalwart  savage  was  holding  her  horse  by  the  bridle. 
The  Indians  were  evidently  parleying  what  should  be  done 
with  their  captive  but  Lillian  was  not  left  long  in  doubt  for 
they  soon  placed  her  on  her  pony  and  securely  fastened  her 
to  the  saddle. 

Knowing  resistance  to  be  entirely  useless  she  offered  none 
but  in  speechless  terror  silently  prayed  for  deliverance  from 
her  savage  captors. 


i8  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

Having  secured  her  to  their  satisfaction  the  Indians 
hastily  mounted  their  own  ponies  and  all  rode  off  rapidly 
toward  the  mountains. 

Poor  Lillian,  as  she  turned  and  gazed  longing  at  the  old 
familiar  haunts  fast  receding  from  view  and  felt  how  help 
less  and  alone  she  was,  her  grief  knew  no  bounds. 

She  wept  as  though  her  heart  would  break  but  received 
no  sympathy  from  the  gruff  stolid  Indians  who  regarded 
her  with  curiosity  and  savage  exultation  and  talked  among 
themselves  with  many  gesticulations. 

Very  soon  after  starting  it  occured  to  Lillian  that  she 
must  leave  a  clue  of  some  kind  to  enable  her  friends  to  fol 
low  her  and  she  quickly  tore  small  pieces  from  her  apron 
and  dropped  them  at  intervals  along  the  road,  fervently 
hoping  that  her  movements  would  not  be  noticed  by  any  of 
the  Indians  but  not  daring  to  glance  backward. 

Unfortunately  she  was  closely  watched  and  even'  shred 

which  she  dropped  was  as  carefully   gathered  up  by  the  old 
Indian  who  followed  in  the  rear. 

Mile  after  mile  they  followed  the  narrow  lonely  trail 
which  led  them  over  hills,  through  .winding  gulches  and 
along  the  banks  of  steep  ravines.  In  crossing  through  the 
dense  woodland  the  path  was  nearly  concealed  by  under 
brush  and  the  fir  branches  overhead  were  so  interwoven  as 
to  be  almost  impenetrable  to  other  than  Indians  or  wild 
beasts.  Lillian's  hands  were  bound  so  that  she  was  unable 
to  shield  herself  or  evade  the  branches  and  she  received 
many  painful  scratches  as  they  hurried  rapidly  along.  All 
the  afternoon  they  rode  without  halting.  The  day  was  op 
pressively  warm  and  Lillian  was  nearly  overcome  with  heat 
and  exhaustion.  Along  towards  dusk  they  reached  the 
camp  where  the  squaws  were  cooking  their  evening  meal 
and  were  saluted  by  a  number  of  barking  dogs  and  gapping 
papooses.  Lillian  was  quickly  surrounded  by  the  dirty, 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 


swarthy  looking  people  and  was  soon  unbound  and  taken 
from  her  horse.  She  was  placed  in  one  of  the  wigwams,': 
where  she  threw  herself  down  on  an  old  bear  skin  and  gave 
way  to  her  grief.  As  she  lay  there  unconscious  of  every 
thing  but  the  thought  of  her  utter  helplessness,  a  rough 
but  rather  kindly  faced  old  Indian  seated  himself  close  by 
with  his  tomahawk  to  guard  her. 

CHAPTER  IV. 


The  stricken  parents,  the  search  for  Lillian. 

It  had  been  a  very  busy 
day  on  the  ranch.  They 
were  right  in  the  midst 
of  their  little  harvest  and 
the  grain  must  be  gath 
ered  in  for  clouds  were 
slowly  gathering  and  a 
rain  would  do  great  dam 
age  if  the  grain  were  left 
down  in  its  present  con 
dition,  so  the  men  all 
worked  harder  and  later 
than  usual.  As  they 
drove  in  with  the  last  load  they  were  met  at  the  gate  by 
Mrs.  Ainsley  who  wore  a  very  anxious  expression  as  she 
told  them  that  Lillian  had  not  yet  returned  with  the  cattle. 
"Is  that  so?"  said  Mr.  Ainsley  with  a  look  of  deep  concern, 
"I  will  go  at  once  and  see  what  has  detained  her."  He 
took  a  drink  of  the  cool  spring  water  and  without  waiting 
for  supper  hurriedly  saddled  his  horse  and  started  in  quest 
of  his  daughter.  Lillian  had  been  in  the  habit  of  corraling 
and  milking  the  cows  during  the  busy  harvest  time,  and  it 
was  now  so  far  beyond  her  usual  time  of  returning  home 
that  they  had  great  cause  for  feeling  uneasy. 


LILLIAN  AINSLEY. 


20  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

Mr.  Ainsley  started  out  in  the  direction  of  the  Lambtree. 
He  met  some  of  the  cows  slowly  feeding  along  the  path  and 
farther  on  passed  others  lying  down  as  though  they  had  not 
been  driven  or  disturbed  for  several  hours.  He  rode  on 
calling  Lillian's  name  loudly,  his  anxiety  increasing  each 
moment.  Not  thinking  to  count  the  cattle  which  he  had 
passed,  the  thought  occurred  to  him  that  Lillian  might  have 
let  some  of  them  stray  off  and  that  she  was  hunting  for 
them.  He  rode  on  and  on,  calling  and  hallooing  time  and 
again  but  received  no  answer. 

It  was  growing  so  dark  that  he  could  scarcely  see  and  the 
storm  clouds  were  rolling  up  in  great  banks.  A  flash  of 
lightning  and  a  peal  of  thunder  warned  him  of  the  rapidly 
approaching  storm.  Still  he  called  and  hallooed,  thinking 
she  might  have  grown  bewildered  and  lost  her  way,  but 
there  was  no  answer  excepting  the  echo  of  his  own  voice. 
With  many  misgivings  and  a  sinking  heart  he  turned  slow 
ly  toward  home,  still  carefully  noticing  every  clump  of 
bushes,  every  stone  and  shrub  which  were  revealed  by 
flashes  of  lightning  as  he  passed  along. 

Mr.  Ainsley  kney  not  what  to  think  or  how  to  account 
for  his  daughter's  strange  disappearance.  He  feared  some 
wild  beast  had  devoured  her,  yet,  in  that  case  what  had  be 
come  of  her  pony?  He  regretted  not  having  noticed  more 
closely  before  it  had  grown  so  dark  for  he  might  have  dis 
covered  some  clue  which  would  have  helped  him  to  find 
her.  It  was  now  so  dark  that  it  was  impossible  to  continue 
the  search  and  the  rain  was  beginning  to  fall  in  great  drops. 
Blinded  by  the  storm  and  the  darkness  he  gave  his  horse 
the  reins  and  trusted  the  animal  to  find  the  way  safely  home, 
thinking  that  Lillian  must  surely  have  returned  during  his 
absence. 

He  urged  his  horse  rapidly  on  through  the  rain  which 
was  now  descending  in  torrents.  As  he  rode  up  to  the 


THE  IX)ST  SHACKLE.  21 

cabin  and  saw  the  anxious  faces  awaiting  him  he  knew  that 
his  last  hope  was  groundless. 

Mr.  Bently  and  Mathew  after  taking  care  of  the  grain, 
seeing  nothing  of  Lillian  or  her  father,  had  also  gone  out 

and  searched  but  had  returned  with  the  same  sad  results 
just  before  the  rain  set  in. 

The  severe  storm  that  was  raging  and  the  extreme  dark 
ness  prevented  further  search  that  night.  With  impatient 
suspense  they  waited  for  the  storm  and  darkness  to  abate 
as  with  sinking  hearts  they  conjectured  what  might  have 
happened  to  Lillian.  Mr.  Ainsley  wearily  paced  back  and 
forth,  unable  to  rest  or  remain  quiet  a  moment  while  he  felt 
so  uneasy  about  his  darling  child  who  he  now  feared  was 
either  lost  or  dead. 

Before  the  first  appearance  of  dawn,  Mr.  Ainsley, 'Mr. 
Bently  and  Mathew  all  started  out  for  the  range  where 
Lillian  had  been  accustomed  to  herd  the  cattle.  They 
called  and  hallooed  wildly  and  with  the  first  glimmer  of 
daybreak  began  searching  carefully  for  some  trace  of  Lillian 
but  to  their  dismay  found  that  the  rain  had  beatten  down 
with  such  force  as  to  obliterate  all  tracks  of  the  day  before. 
All  day  long  they  searched  and  far  into  the  night  before  re 
turning  to  the  heart-broken  friends  at  home  who  wearily 
waited  and  prayed  for  Lillian's  safe  return.  Day  after  day 
they  pursued  the  search  and  night  after  night  were  forced 
to  return  without  any  trace  of  Lillian.  They  were  unable 

to  find  any  clew  that  would  give  them  an  idea  as  to  what 
had  become  of  the  child. 

The  older  people  at  length   rather  settled  upon  the  idea 

that  a  band  of  the  large  grey  wolves,  occasionally  seen  in 
the  mountains,  must  have  overtaken  Lillian  and  her  pony, 
dragged  them  to  some  lonely  gulch  and  devoured  them. 
This  conclusion  was  forced  upon  them  through  Mathew 
having  been  attacked  by  the  hungry  creatures  one  evening 
some  months  before,  barely  escaping  with  his  life. 


32  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

But  Mathew  did  not  agree  with  them  in  this  matter.  It 
seemed  to  him  more  probable  that  the  Indians  had  taken 
Lillian  captive.  He  recalled  the  day  of  her  disappearance 
and  how  uneasy  he  had  felt  about  her,  especially  along  about 
noontime.  He  remembered  how  his  mind  had  kept  wan 
dering  to  Lillian  and  the  old  Lamb  tree  and  once  he  had 
remarked  to  his  father  that  he  feared  something  was  wrong 
with  Lillian.  Mr.  Bently  had  paid  little  heed  to  the  remark 
and  they  had  worked  on  until  night,  when  Lillian's  failure 
to  return  was  the  first  they  knew  of  her  disappearance. 
Mathew' s  first  thought  had  then  been  that  the  Indians  had 
surprised  and  captured  her  and,  although  there  seemed  little 
ground  for  his  conclusion,  that  thought  was  uppermost  in 
his  mind. 

Weeks  passed  by,  the  search  was  gradually  discontinued 

and  the  Ainsleys  mourned  their  daughter  as  dead.  But 
there  was  one  among  the  little  party  who  had  not  given  up 
hope.  Mathew  Bently  firmly  believed  that  Lillian  was 
alive  and  that  he  would  some  day  see  her  again.  During 
their  years  of  association  he  had  learned  to  love  Lillian  very 
dearly  and  he  could  never  believe  in  her  death  until  he  had 
seen  some  positive  proof  of  it.  As  he  worked  industriously 
day  after  day  he  often  made  many  plans  for  the  future. 
His  parents  thought  his  explanation  of  Lillian's  disappear 
ance  so  reasonable  that  he  rarely  referred  to  the  matter,  but 
he  resolved  in  his  own  mind  that  when  he  was  of  age  and 

free  to  use  his  time  as  he  liked,  he  would  go  systematically 
to  work  and  find  Lillian  if  she  were  alive. 

He  would  rescue  her  from  the  Indians  and  bring  her 
home  to  her  people.  Then  he  would  build  a  nice  little 
home  and  Lillian  should  be  his  wife. 

Often  after  the  day's  work  was  done  he  would  wander  to 
the  old  Lamb  tree  and  live  over  the  happy  days  he  and 
Lillian  had  spent  together  there  and  time  and  again  he 
would  Jenew  his  vow  to  find  her  if  she  still  lived. 


THE  LOST  SHACKEL.  23 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  movements  of  the  Indians  with  their  captive. 

Lillian  was  so  fatigued  and  lame  after  her  ride  with  the 
Indians  that  she  was  scarcely  able  to  move.  Her  head  was 
tired  and  ached  severely.  She  did  not  feel  enough  interest 
in  her  surroundings  to  gaze  about  her  but  simply  wished 
to  lie  still  and  be  left  alone. 

The  silence  was  soon  broken  by  an  old  squaw  entering 
the  wigwam  bringing  some  supper  which. she  not  unkindly 
proffered  Lillian.  The  food '  consisted  of  a  piece  of  half 
cooked  venison  and  a  gourd  full  of  porridge  which  appeared 
to  be  made  of  roots  and  herbs.  Even  had  the  food  been 
appetizing,  Lillian  was  too  tired  and  heart  sick  to  eat  and 
was  about  to  push  it  away  untouched  when  it  occurred  to 
her  that  the  Indian  woman  was  wishing  to  treat  her  kindly 
and  might  be  offended  if  the  food  were  ignored.  With  a 
great  effort  she  swallowed  a  little  and  then  motioned  that 
she  was  not  hungry.  Many  curious  eyes  were  peeping  in 
at  the  opening  of  the  wigwam  and  some  of  the  Indians  were 
entering  when  they  were  quickly  driven  back  by  the  one 
who  had  been  stationed  as  her  guard. 

The  hard  storm  which  had  been  threatening  for  some 
time  now  burst  forth  in  all  its  fury.  Brilliant  flashes  of 
lightning  were  immediately  followed  by  deafening  peals  of 
thunder  which  rolled  and  crashed  as  though  they  would 
rend  the  very  mountains  asunder.  The  wind  blew  violent 
ly  and  beat  the  rain  into  the  wigwam,  making  Lillian  very 
uncomf table.  The  blanket  they  had  given  her  as  a  cover 
ing  was  anything  but  clean  and  she  could  scarcely  bear  to 
have  it  touch  her,  but  she  was  so  weak  and  exhausted  that 
neither  these  discomforts  nor  the  storm  raging  without  kept 
her  from  falling  asleep. 

Sometime  after  midnight  she  awoke  to  find  that  the  storm 


24  THE  LOST  SHACKEL. 

had  ceased  and  the  camp  was  in  perfect  quiet.  A  little  to 
her  right  sat  the  old  Indian  who  was  left  to  guard  her.  He 
had  gone  to  sleep,  his  head  resting  on  his  knees  and  his 
tomahawk  lying  at  his  feet  where  it  had  fallen  from  his 
hand  when  he  dropped  off  into  unconsciousness. 

Lillian  was  at  first  completely  bewildered  as  she  tried  to 
make  out  her  surroundings  in  the  dim  moonlight.  When 
she  recalled  wnere  she  was  and  the  circumstances  which 
brought  her  there,  her  first  thought  was  of  instant  flight  but 
her  better  judgment  soon  told  her  that  an  immediate  attempt 
to  escape  would  be  worse  than  useless,  for  if  she  succeeded 
in  evading  the  Indian  placed  to  guard  her,  there  was  little 
hope  of  her  getting  past  the  dogs  on  the  outside  without 
their  giving  alarm. 

Again,  the  night  was  dark  and  she  was  a  long  way  from 
home,  in  what  direction  she  knew  not.  Would  it  not  be 
wiser  for  her  to  remain  where  she  was  for  the  present  than 
to  risk  being  lost  in  the  mountains  and  perhaps  meet  with 
starvation  or  fall  prey  to  wild  beasts,  if  she  was  not  retaken 
by  her  present  captors.  This  point  being  settled  in  her 
mind  her  thoughts  dwelt  upon  her  home  and  friends.  She 
wondered  what  they  would  think  at  her  failure  to  return  at 
night;  if  when  they  went  out  to  search  for  her  they  had 
found  the  pieces  of  clothing  she  had  torn  off  and  scattered 
along  the  way.  She  knew  thev  would  never  give  up 
searching  as  long  as  they  thought  her  alive.  But  what  if 
they  did  not  find  the  scraps  of  clothing  or  any  other  clew, 
would  they  after  a  few  days  or  weeks  search  give  her  up  as 
dead?  They  knew  nothing  of  the  strange  band  of  Indians 
in  the  neighborhood  and  might  never  think  of  her  having 
been  taken  captive.  These  and  many  similar  thoughts 
passed  through  Lillian's  tired  brain.  When  she  thought 
of  her  parents  and  little  Bessie  and  how  happy  she  had  al 
ways  been  with  them,  she  wondered  if  Mathew  *  would 


THE  LOST  SHACKEL.  25 

miss  her  so  very  much  and  if  he  and  his  parents  would  help 
rescue  her.  Then  her  mind  returned  to  her  own  sad  plight 
and  with  a  feeling  of  utter  desolation  she  sobbed  herself  to 
sleep. 

About  sunrise  Lillian  was  aroused  by  the  stir  in  camp  as 
the  Indians  made  preparations  for  the  day's  journey. 

As  they  ate  their  rude  morning  meal  they  seemed  to  be 
in  earnest  consultation  and  immediately  after  breakfast 
they  began  tearing  down  their  wigwams  and  packing  every 
thing.  It  was  evident  that  they  were  going  to  make  a 
change  in  their  camping  place. 

Everything  was  finally  in  readiness.  Some  of  the  pap- 
pooses  were  strapped  to  their  mothers'  backs  and  others 
were  placed  in  baskets  on  the  ponies.  One  little  brown 
pony  carried  five  of  these  baskets  strapped  together  and 
thrown  over  his  back  in  the  manner  of  saddle  bags. 

Lillian  could  not  help  being  more  or  less  interested  in 
their  proceedings  though  she  was  far  from  being  in  condi 
tion  to  enjoy  them.  They  started  off  single  file,  a  half 
dozen  dogs  trotting  along  at  their  heels.  Lillian  was  not 
bound  to  the  saddle  this  time  though  she  ^  was  very  closely 
watched.  The  rain  had  made  the  trail  very  slippery  which 
prevented  their  traveling  as  rapidly  as  they  wished  and 
they  frequently  glanced  back  to  see  if  their  tracks  had  been 
discovered. 

After  moving  forward  for  several  hours  they  came  to  a 
narrow  valley  through  which  a  mountain  stream  sped  on 
its  course.  It  was  broad  and  shallow  with  a  pebbly  bed. 
They  entered  the  stream  and  after  following  its  course 
downward  for  perhaps  a  half  mile  came  out  again  on  the 
bank  from  which  they  entered,  that  their  trail  might  be  lost 
to  any  who  were  perhaps  following  them.  All  day  they 
traveled  on  and  as  Lillian  felt  that  home  and  friends  were 
gliding  farther  and  farther  from  her  her  hope  of  being  res- 


26  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

cued  grew  more  faint  and  night  time  found  her  in  silent 
despair. 

Lillian  gradually  grew  weaker  under  her  grief  and  lack 
of  proper  food  and  as  they  traveled  on  day  after  day  she 
was  scarcely  able  to  keep  in  her  saddle.  Sometimes  when 
she  felt  so  faint  and  weak  and  sick  at  heaat  she  wondered 
if  God  had  entirely  forgotten  and  forsaken  her. 

The  Indians  did  not  seem  to  notice  or  mind  Lillian's  con 
dition 'excepting  the  chief's  daughter,  Lewanna,  who  was  a 
pleasant,  modest  looking  Indian  maiden  of  about  Lillian's 
age  or  a  little  younger.  But  Lillian  was  so  completely  ab 
sorbed  in  her  own  sad  thoughts  that  she  had  not  noticed 
the  friendly  advances  of  Lewanna. 

However,  a  little  occurance  happened  one  day  which 
proved  to  her  that  she  had  a  very  true  friend  in  the  little 
dusky  maiden.  They  had  come  to  a  river  which  was  con 
siderably  swoolen  and,  wishing  to  cross  it,  they  made  a  sort 
of  raft  out  of  buffalo  skins  and  attached  it  to  some  of  their 
riding  ponies  that  the  loads  of  the  pack  horses  might  be 
made  lighter.  Lillian  rode  her  pony-  as  usual  and  when 
near  the  middle  of  the  stream  grew  very  dizzy  and  fell  from 
her  horse.  She  was  saved  from  drowning  by  Lewanna  who 
was  riding  close  behind  and  instantly  sprang  from  her  own 
horse  to  Lillian's  rescue.  They  were  both  carried  down  a 
considerable  distance  by  the  swift  currant  but  Lewanna 
was  a  good  swimmer  and  managed  to  keep  Lillian's  head 
above  water  until  one  of  the  Indian  men  came  to  her  assist 
ance  and  helped  them  both  safely  to  shore. 

Lillian  never  forgot  Le wanna 's  kind  act  and  felt  glad  of 
the  Indian  girl's  frienship. 

They  had  now  arrived  at  an  exceptionally  fine  place  for 
hunting  and  fishing,  far  from  the  habitation  of  white  man, 
and  they  resolved  to  camp  there  a  while. 

The  little  valley  was  thickly  wooded,  though  interspersed 


THE  IX>ST  SHACKLE.  *7 

with  stretches  of  excellent  pasture  land.  The  spot  where 
they  camped  lay  near  the  entrance  of  a  deep  and  rocky  pass 
leading  through  the  mountains  into  other  valleys  and  occa 
sionally  hundreds  of  buffalo  might  be  seen  trailing  through 
from  one  valley  to  another. 

Lillian  now  felt  that  if  she  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the 
Indians,  the  deep  river  which  they  had  just  crossed  was  a 
great  barrier  between  herself  and  home  and  she  knew  it 
would  not  be  prudent  for  her  to  attempt  an  escape  while  so 
helpless  and  ignorant  of  the  country. 

The  Indians  seemed  disposed  to  treat  her  kindly  but  were 
constantly  on  the  alert  and  were  always  careful  to  tie  her 
pony  in  a  place  where  she  could  not  reach  it  without  attract 
ing  their  attention,  so  she  concluded  to  remain  where  she 
was  for  the  present  and  be  as  happy  as  possible  under  ex 
isting  circumstances,  but  determined  to  be  ever  on  the 
watch  for  an  opportunity  to  escape.  She  knew  that  if  she 
were  compelled  to  remain  long  with  the  Indians  she  could 
make  a  friend  and  companion  of  Lewanna  but  she  was  lone 
ly  beyond  description  and  longed  to  be  at  home.  She  felt 
that  if  she  should  be  forever  separated  from  her  friends  life 
would  not  be  worth  living.  At  times  she  was  very  des 
pondent  and  the  days  seemed  long  and  tedious,  but  even 
when  most  dejected  she  never  entirely  lost  heart. 

At  night  she  would  often  dream  that  she  was  at  home 
and  that  her  adventures  with  the  Indians'  was  only  a  very 
unpleasant  dream.  Sometimes  she  would  awaken  pinch 
ing  herself  to  determine  if  she  were  awake  or  asleep,  and 
to  her  unutterable  disappointment  would  find  that  what 
she  had  hoped  to  be  a  bad  dream  was  in  truth  a  sad  reality, 
and  then  she  would  sob  herself  to  sleep  again. 

As  the  days  grew  into  weeks,  Lillian's  physical  condition 
improved,  and  being  naturally  of  a  cheerful  disposition  she 
was  inclined  to  make  the  best  of  things. 


28  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

She  ^nd  Lewanna  were  constantly  together  and  became 
stanch  friends.  She  learned  the  Indian  language  from 
Lewanna  and  in  turn  taught  Lewanna  to  speak  English. 
As  Lillian  grew  more  accustomed  to  her  wild  life  and  be 
came  able  to  understand  the  Indian  language,  she  grew 
more  interested  in  that  which  was  going  on  about  her. 
She  and  Lewanna  would  often  paddle  about  in  their  light 
canoe  on  the  small  lake  near  by  or  wander  off  into  the 
mountains  after  berries,  but  best  of  all  she  was  glad  to 
note  that  the  Indians  had  ceased  to  watch  her  movements 
so  closely  as  at  first. 

The  fall  had  been  warm  and  pleasant,  but  as  Indian  sum 
mer  wore  away  Lillian's  summer  clothing  felt  thin  and 
cool.  For  the  sake  of  comfort  she  was  forced  to  don  the 
Indian  garb  piece  by  piece  until  when  cold  weather  set  in 
she  was  dressed  much  the  same  as  Lewanna,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  her  delicate  skin,  blue  eyes  and  auburn  curls  she 
might  readily  have  passed  for  an  Indian  girl. 

Lewanna  being  a  chiefs  daughter  was  allowed  many 
privileges  not  granted  the  rest,  but  after  much  coaxing  she 
induced  the  old  chief  to  allow  Lillian  nearly  the  same  lib 
erty  as  she  herself  enjoyed. 

This  at  first  caused  some  dissention  and  jealousy  among 
the  Indian  women  but  only  temporarily  for  they  all  loved 
the  gentle  ways  of  the  beautiful  white  girl  and  were 
proud  to  see  her  enjoying  especial  privileges, 

The  squaws  were  very  fond  of  doing  bead  work  and  did  a 
great  deal  of  it  in  the  winter  when  they  were  forced  to  sit 
about  the  fire  to  keep  warm.  After  watching  them  one  day 
Lillian  asked  for  some  material.  She  had  always  been  fond 
of  fancy  work  and  this  seemed  very  simple  to  her  and  she 
found  it  a  pleasant  pastime.  The  squaws  were  delighted 
and  amazed  at  her  ingenuity  in  making  new  designs  and 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  a* 

often  marveled  over  the  wonderful  white  girl  who  could  so 
easily  do  work  which  seemed  so  difficult  to  them. 

On  days  when  the  weather  was  not  severe,  if  there 
chanced  to  be  a  firm  crust  on  the  snow,  the  two  girls 
would  take  their  bows  and  arrows  and  go  out  on  hunting 
expeditions  which  greatly  helped  to  relieve  the  monotony  of 
the  long  weeks  of  cold  weather. 

The  winter  passed  by  without  any  incidents  of  especial 
importance  or  any  means  of  escape  presenting  itself  to  Lilli 
an.  In  passing  along  the  trail  she  often  cut  her  name  on 
the  trees,  hoping  it  might  catch  the  eye  of  some  white  hunter 
who  had  possibly  heard  of  her  disappearance. 

Time  rolled  along  in  this  manner  for  nearly  three  years, 
the  Indians  remaining  in  the  same  locality.  On  different 
occasions  all  the  strong  warriors  had  gone  off  and  remained 
several  weeks  at  a  time.  Sometimes  they  would  return 
gruff  and  ugly,  at  other  times  they  would  bring  back  a  lot 
of  strange  horses  and  would  be  in  high  spirits,  and  once 
when  they  returned  some  of  their  members  had  been  killed 
in  battle,  and  there  was  great  mourning  in  the  camp  when 
the  news  was  told.  They  all  engaged  in  a  wild,  weird  spirit 
dance  in  which  the  Indian  men  all  danced  around  a  smould 
ering  fire  while  the  squaws  sat  huddled  together  at  one  side 
wailing  in  a  low  mournful  manner:  This  strange  dance 
continued  for  several  hours,  then  all  of  the  belong 
ings  of  the  dead  Indians  were  gathered  together 
and  made  into  bundles.  Just  at  break  of  day,  as  the  sun  first 
appeared  above  the  eastern,  horizon  these  bundles  were 
placed  among  the  high  branches  of  the  trees  ready  for  their 
dead  companions  to  use  on  reaching  the  happy  hunting 
ground. 

The  Indians  were  very  superstitious  and  immediately  set 
about  to  change  their  camping  place.     After  roaming  about 


30  THB  W>ST  SHACKLE. 

for  several  months  they  settled  down  in  what  is  now  known 
as  Bear  Pan  Mountains. 

It  had  been  a  long  three  years  to  Lillian  and  she  had 
thought  she  would  be  glad  of  any  change,  though  when  she 
found  that  they  were  in  a  wilder  and  more  inaccessible  place 
than  the  last  she  felt  disheartened  and  feared  she  would 
never  again  see  civilization. 

She  had  once  prevailed  upon  Lewanna  to  intercede  in 
her  behalf  and  induce  the  old  chief  to  return  her  to  her  peo 
ple,  but  the  result  had  been  far  from  satisfactory,  for  it  had 
alarmed  the  Indians  and  caused  them  to  watch  her  very 
closely  for  a  long  time.  They  had  grown  strongly  attached 
to  the  fair  white  girl  and  also  feared  if  they  lost  her  it  would 
bring  them  much  bad  luck. 

The  next  year  and  the  next  passed  slowly  by.  Lillian 
had  now  grown  to  womanhood  and  had  been  five  years 
among  the  Indians.  It  had  been  five  long  years  since  she 
had  seen  her  home  and  friends,  five  years  since  she  had 
seen  a  white  person  or  a  sign  of  civilization.  But  dur 
ing  these  five  years  she  had  never  once  entirely  given  up 
hope  of  seeing  her  home  and  friends  and  many  of  her  hap 
piest  hours  were  spent  in  recalling  with  fond  recollectians 
all  of  the  many  little  events  which  had  made  her  life  so 
pleasant  when  a  child  at  home. 

She  often  thought  of  Mathew  and  wondered  what  he 
had  been  doing  through  all  these  long  years.  How  she 
yearned  to  send  him  some  message,  for  she  knew  he  would 
allow  nothing  to  keep  him  from  rescuing  her  if  he  only  had 
some  clue  as  to  her  whereabouts,  One  day  while  in  their 
wanderings  she  went  down  to  a  spring-  to  get  water  she 
carved  the  initials,  L.  A.  M.  B.  on  the  large  shaft  of  lime 
stone  which  overhung  the  spring,  and  as  she  cut  the  letters 
on  the  rock  she  thought  of  the  time  when  she  had  watched 
Matthew  carve  those  same  initials  on  the  old  tree  by  the 


THB  LOST  SHAOXX&  Jl 

•pring  at  home,  and  possibly  a  faint  hope  flitted  through 
her  mind  that  those  same  letters  might  in  some  manner 
lead  to  her  discovery  by  her  friends. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Bessie.  A  narrow  escape.  Mathew's  adventure  with  a  savage  animal. 
The  Rancher's  prosperity.  The  Prospector  and  the  Miners,  The 
Stockman  and  the  Indians. 

The  homes  of  the  ranchmen  were  indeed  lonesome  with 
out  Lillian  but  time  brought  on  its  pleasures  and  trouble 
intermingled  and  many  were  their  experiences  which  helped 
to  divert  their  minds  from  their  sad  loss.  After  Lillian's 
disappearance  Bessie  was  a  special  object  of  love  and  care, 
not  only  to  her  parents,  but  to  Mathew  and  the  Bentleys. 
She  was  watched  very  closely  and  not  allowed  out  of  their 
sight  scarcely.  She  was  a  little  wayward,  full  of  mischief 
and  fun,  but  the  loss  of  her  sister  was  grief  she  could  not 
soon  forget,  as  they  dearly  loved  each  other,  and  at  first  her 
loneliness  and  sorrow  cast  a  gloom  over  all,  and  it  was  many 
months  ere  she  began  to  manifest  her  bright  little  self  again. 
Bessie  would  sometimes  go  with  Mathew  over  to  the  old 
Lamb  tree  and  they  together  would  talk  over  old  times 
when  Lillian  was  with  them.  Old  Nero  was  almost  always 
with  them  and  was  a  source  of  great  comfort  to  the  little 
girl  who  would  talk  to  him  as  though  he  was  a  person,  he 
reciprocating  her  love  and  attention  in  his  clumsy  dog 
fashion. 

One  day  when  Mathew  and  Bessie  were  returning  from  a 
visit  to  the  tree  and  were  gathering  a  boquet  of  flowers, 
which  grew  in  profusion  along  their  pathway,  Bessie  espied 
a  beautiful  bunch  of  mountain  pinks  near  a  heap  of  broken 
rocks  a  short  distance  away  and  hastened  to  get  them,  as 
they  were  her  especial  favorites.  She  stooped  to  pick  them 
but  sprang  back  with  a  scream  which  soon  brought  old 


$a  THE  lyOST  SHACKLE. 

Nero  to  her  side  in  an  instant.  A  huge  rattlesnake  had 
coiled  itself  and  was  just  ready  to  spring  at  Bessie  when  the 
dog  sprung  at  it,  his  shaggy  coat  shielding  him  from  its 
venomous  fangs.  He  caught  it,  bit  it  and  shook  it  until  it 
was  dead.  Mathew  took  Bessie  by  the  hand  and  petting 
the  faithful  dog  on  the  head  hastened  home,  thankful  that 
his  little  friend  had  been  rescued  from  such  peril,  and  all 
loved  old  Nero  better  than  ever.  , 

As  time  wore  on  and  they  all  began  to  be  reconciled  in  a 
measure  to  Lillian's  absence,  Bessie  began  to  manifest  her 
old  happy  self.  Her  father  gave  her  a  small  white  pony 
which  he  had  purchased  from  the  Indians.  It  was  very 
gentle  and  they  became  firm  friends.  She  called  it  Pinto 
and  it  would  come  at  her  call.  She  was  allowed  to  ride 
about  over  the  ranch  in  sight  of  the  house  but  not  to  go  far 
without  some  of  the  older  people  with  her.  It  was  her 
special  delight  to  ride  about  the  meadow  where  her  father 
was  cutting  hay  and  occasionally  bring  him  a  cool  drink 
from  the  spring.  Bessie  loved  Mathew  and  the  attach 
ment  which  grew  between  them  was  beautiful  to  see. 
Mathew  was  as  careful  of  her  as  if  she  was  his  own  little 
sister. 

In  the  spring,  nearly  two  years  after  Lillian  had  passed 
from  them,  an  accident  occurred  which  came  near  robbing 
the  Bentlys  of  their  only  child.  As  Mr.  Bently's  ranch 
lay  on  both  sides  of  the  river  ,he  had  begun  fencing  on  the 
opposite  side  from  where  the  house  was.  He  and  Mathew, 
one  day  in  early  June,  went  there  to  work,  taking  their 
dinner  with  them,  expecting  to  be  from  home  all  day.  As 
they  crossed  the  riyer  in  the  morning  they  noticed  it  was 
rising  some  but  did  not  think  but  that  they  would  be  able 
to  return  in  the  evening  as  their  team  was  large  and  trusty. 

The  day  was  unusually  fine,  the  June  sun  shining  upon 
the  snow-capped  mountains.  At  noon,  when  they  led  their 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  33 

horses  to  the  creek  for  water,  they  noticed  that  it  was  ris 
ing  very  rapidly  but,  while  they  felt  some  misgiving  about 
the  river  ford,  they  worked  on  in  their  endeavor  to  com 
plete  their  task.  They  finished  it  however  sooner  than 
they  expected  and  set  out  for  home.  Before  they  had 
reached  the  river  they  heard  its  heavy  roar  and  knew  they 
would  have  a  hazardous  task  in  crossing.  However,  it 
it  must  be  done,  as  the  Indians  were  more  savage  on  that 
side  of  the  river  and  they  feared  an  attack  from  them  when 
night  came  on. 

Mrs.  Ainsley  and  Bessie  had  been  spending  the  day  with 
Mrs.  Bently  and  they  had  been  watching  the  river  and 
were  thinking  of  Mr.  Bently  and  Mathew's  return  with 
great  apprehension  and  as  they  saw  them  coming  over  the 
hill  they  started  down  to  the  ford  to  see  them  cross. 

Mr.  Bently  paused  ere  he  entered  the  stream  to  give  an 
encouraging  word  to  the  horses,  who  seemed  loath  to  enter 
the  water.  He  told  Mathew  to  pull  off  his  boots,  he  doing 
the  same,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  swim  should  any  accident 
occur.  Mr.  Ainsley  rode  up  at  this  moment  with  whis 
pered  prayer  and  bated  breath.  They  watched  them  as 
they  drove  into  the  rushing  current  and  made  their  wa) 
toward  the  shore.  Bessie's  face  grew  pale  as  she  stood, 
almost  afraid  to  watch  them.  As  they  neared  the  middle 
of  the  current  the  wagon  box  began  to  float.  The  horses 
struggled  on,  but  against  fearful  odds,  as  the  wagon  was 
slowly  drifting  down  the  stream.  One  of  the  noble  beasts 
at  last  fell  and  the  other  was  also  drawn  under. 

Mr.  Bently  and  Mathew  sprang  into  the  water  and  be 
gan  to  swim  for  their  lives.  Both  were  good  swimmers,  but 
the  water  was  so  cold  and  the  current  so  swift  that  it  was 
very  difficult  work.  Mr.  Bently  however  soon  reached  the 
shore  and  turned  to  see  where  his  son  was,  and  was  horri 
fied  to  see  him  drifting  down  stream,  but  Mr.  Ainsley  had 


34  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

loosed  the  rope  from  his  saddle,  and  had  ran  down  the  bank 
and  cast  it  out  to  the  struggling  boy.  At  last  Mathew  suc 
ceeded  in  catching  it  and  was  drawn  to  the  shore  almost 
drowned,  but  was  tenderly  cared  for.  Poor  Bessie  in  a 
frenzy  of  fright  almost  fell  into  the  river  in  her  anxiety  to 
help  her  friend. 

The  loss  of  the  horses  was  keenly  felt  but  they  were  all 
glad  that  the  accident  had  been  no  worse. 

It  was  several  days  ere  Mathew  was  able  to  go  about  much 
and  Bessie  and  Nero  were  his  daily  visitors.  The  following 
fall  Mathew  met  with  quite  an  adventure.  One  evening 
while  his  parents  had  gone  to  Mr.  Ainsley's  he  had  milked 
the  cows  and  attended  to  the  milk,  when  he  happened  to 
think  that  he  had  forgotten  to  shut  up  the  chicken  house 
door  which  was  adjoining  the  stable  and  corrals  and  were  all 
nearly  surrounded  by  a  dense  thicket  of  swamp  willows  ex 
cept  between  them  and  the  cabin  about  one  hundred  yards 
distant.  Mathew  had  just  turned  around  the  corner  of  the 
cabin  when  to  his  surprise  he  saw  a  large  spotted  lynx  stand 
ing  just  out  side  of  the  hen  house  door.  He  seized  his  rifle 
and  with  considerable  nerve  started  toward  his  savage  look 
ing  antagonist  but  when  he  walked  a  few  steps  toward  it  he 
felt  so  nervous  that  he  thought  it  no  use  to  shoot  without 
getting  up  close  to  the  fierce  looking  animal  which  never 
moved  but  looked  straight  ar  Mathew,  until  he  was  probab 
ly  within  twenty  paces  of  it.  Then  he  raised  his  rifle  but 
the  gun  only  snapped  and  to  his  surprise  he  found  that  it 
was  not  loaded.  The  animal  rolled  his  savage  eyes  and  be 
gan  to  twist  his  tail  as  he  started  slowly  toward  Mathew, 
with  a  low  growl  and  showing  his  long,  sharp  teeth.  Mathew 
now  began  to  walk  backward  toward  the  cabin,  knowing 
that  if  he  turned  his  back  to  the  animal  that  it  would  quick 
ly  spring  upon  him,  while  the  animal  still  followed  him  up. 
As  he  stepped  inside  the  cabin  door  the  beast  made  a  spring 


THE  LOST  SHACKEL.  35 

at  him, but  Mathew  was  a  little  too  quick,  and  slammed  the 
door;  but  it  came  with  such  force  against,  it  that  it  almost 
broke  it  open  notwithstanding  Mathew  had  all  the  strength 
against  it  he  could  command.  It  was  now  growing  dark 
and  Mathew  was  too  nervous  to  venture  out  again  and  the 
savage  animal  had  his  own  way  and  as  he  neared  the  corrals 
he  gave  such  a  scream  that  it  seut  a  thrill  to  every  nerve  of 
Mathew,  and  he  barred  and  propped  the  door  and  went  to 
bed  in  the  darkness.  When  his  parents  came  home  they 
tried  to  unbolt  the  door,  but  found  that  it  was  not  only 
bolted  but  propped  up  tight  and  solid  and  they  wondered 
what  in  the  world  was  wrong  as  they  pounded  on  the  door 
and  called  to  him.  After  awhile  he  awoke  and  let  them  in, 
telling  them  of  his  adventure  and,  when  he  and  his  father 
went  to  the  hen  house,  the  animal  was  gone,  and  thirteen  of 
their  chickens  missing.  The  next  evening  they  both 
watched.  About  dusk  the  animal  poked  his  head  out  from 
the  thick  brush.  He  saw  them  and  instantly  disappeared. 
The  next  evening  he  made  his  appearance  again  in  the  edge 
of  the  brush.  They  again  armed  themselves  but  before  they 
could  get  a  shot  the  animal  was  off  again.  They  thought 
to  follow  him  this  time.  As  they  were  creeping  through 
the  brush  something  caught  the  hammer  of  Mathew 's  gun 
which  discharged  it,  almost  shooting  Mathew  in  the  foot. 
Of  course  this  scared  the  animal  away  so  he  did  not  make 
his  appearance  again  for  nearly  three  weeks,  when  he 
again  appeared  in  the  edge  of  the  willows.  They  were  un 
able  to  shoot  him  and  set  a  large  double  spring  steel  trap  in 
the  passage  way  between  the  hen  house  and  a  large  rick  of 
hay.  For  two  nights  the  trap  was  not  disturbed,  but  on  the 
third  morning  when  they  went  to  the  trap  sure  enough  the 
large  spotted  lynx  had  one  foot  securely  fastened  in  it  and 
was  raving  with  madness.  Mathew  and  his  father  took 
their  guns  out  to  shoot  him,  but  when  they  were  within  a 


36  THE  LOST  SHACKBL. 

few  feet  of  him  he  gave  one  quick  spring  at  Mathew,  break 
ing,  the  heavy  spring  trap  into  small  pieces,  and  had  Mr. 
Bendy  not  have  shot  as  he  made  the  spring  Matthew  un 
doubtedly  would  have  been  badly  hurt.  The  hide  was 
made  into  a  lovely  rug  and  for  many  years  graced  the 
parlor  floor  of  a  distinguished  gentleman  in  the  State  of 
Iowa. 

It  was  the  night  before  Christmas  of  the  same  year  and 
the  wet  snow  was  falling  the  same  as  it  had  been  for  the 
last  two  days.  Mr.  Ainsley  his  wife  and  Bessie  were  sit 
ting  by  the  fire  place  talking  over  old  times  and  their  dear 
lost  Lillian.  "Oh!  Dear,"  said  Mrs.  Ainsley,  "if  we  could 
only  be  back  at  the  old  home  tonight  instead  of  being  coop 
ed  up  here  in  this  miserable  old  log  shack  by  the  frog  pond. " 
(There  was  quite  a  pond  about  twenty  feet  from  the  door.) 
"Pshaw,"  said  Mr.  Ainsley,  "just  imagine  you  home  in  a 
handsome  cottage  on  the  pebbly  shore  of  a  beautifril  lake 
where  one  can  sit  by  the  water's  edge,  fish  out  speckled  trout 
and  with  one  swing  of  the  rod  land  them  over  into  the  fry 
ing  pan  on  the  fire. 

Just  at  this  minute  there  was  a  loud  noise  overhead  like 
the  report  of  a  gun  and  Mr.  Ainsley  picked  up  Bessie,  at  the 
same  time  exclaiming  "Let  us  get  out  of  here  quickly." 
The  cabin  was  lined  overhead  with  muslin,  and  for  the  time 
being,  prevented  them  from  seeing  what  was  the  matter.  An 
old  hunter  to  whom  Mr.  Ainsley  had  given  permission  to 
winter  in  the  adjoining  cabin,  came  rushing  to  the  door. 
He  had  also  heard  the  loud  report,  and  enquired  what  was 
the  matter.  After  all  were  safely  out  of  the  cabin,  Mr. 
Ainsley  and  the  hunter  went  to  see  if  they  could  discover 
what  was  the  trouble. 

Instantly  they  noticed  the  roof  gradually  sinking  down 
under  the  heavy  weight  of  snow.  They  immediately  got 
props  and  put  them  under  the  heavy  ridge  poles  and  soon 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  37 

had  it  quite  safe.  The  props  made  the  small  cabin  much 
more  inconvenient,  but  Mrs.  Ainsley  felt  so  thankful  to  es 
cape  perhaps  a  sad  accident  and  was  very  well  content  to 
live  in  the  old  cabin  until  the  new  house  was  erected  the 
next  fall. 

Several  years  have  gone  by,  and  Mr.  Ainsley  has  become 
a  prosperous  ranchman;  his  fields  were  enlarged  and  his 
herds  increased  rapidly,  yet  often  he  thought  that  if  they 
could  only  have  their  daughter  Lillian  back  again  to  fill  her 
place  at  the  old  fire  side  he  would  willingly  give  up  all  else. 
But  the  idea  that  she  was  still  living  was  far  from  him;  in 
fact,  they  could  not  believe  for  an  instant  that  it  was  possi 
ble  that  poor  Lillian  was  still  living.  He  loved  Mathew  as 
a  son  and  that  love  was  reciprocated  and  Mathew  often 
spent  hours  at  their  house  with  always  a  cheering  \vord  (al 
though  downcast  himself.) 

Mr.  Bently  had  also  prospered  and  had  increased  his  fields 
and  herds.  The  old  log  cabins  were  replaced  by  good 
hewed  log  house,  and  they  were  really  enjoying  life  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  There  was  now  quite  a  mining  excite 
ment  in  Alder  Gulch  and  other  places  in  Montana  and  the 
prospectors  and  miners  began  to  come  into  the  mountains 
in  the  Yellowstone  country,  and  the  ranchers  had  no  diffi 
culty  in  selling  them  all  they  could  produce  at  a  very  high 
price.  Mr.  Bently  was  ever  planning  for  Ma  the  w's  welfare 
as  only  a  father  can  for  an  only  son.  Stockmen  began  to 
come  into  the  new  country  slowly  and  locate  ranches  along 
at  various  places  on  the  rivers  and  streams.  Some  of  them 
only  occupied  them  during  the  winter  season,  spending  the 
most  of  their  time  in  fthe  mountains  during  the  summer 
prospecting.  This  seemed  to  create  quite  a  good  deal  of  un 
easiness  and  trouble  among  the  Indians,  as  some  of  the 
new  comers  seemed^to  take  a  delight  in  killing  off  the  In- 


38  THE  LOST  SHACKLE- 

dian's  game,  buffalo,  elk  and  other  animals  more  for  the 
sport  than  any  thing  else. 

One  day  as  Mr.  Bently  was  hunting  for  some  of  his  cattle 
which  had  strayed  off  he  was  fired  upon  by  two  Indians  who 
lay  in  ambush  some  distance  to  the  right  of  the  trail,  but  he, 
putting  spurs  to  his  horse,  was  soon  out  of  their  reach;  but 
they  came  very  near  hitting  him  as  one  of  their  arrows 
whizzed  passed  him  in  front,  barely  missing  his  coat. 

Another  day  while  he  was  in  the  field  irrigating  he  heard 
a  shot  fired-and  in  an  instant  a  bullet  fell  in  the  ditch  of 
water  about  two  feet  away.  He  looked  around  but  could  see 
no  one,  when  there  came  another  report  and  the  bullet 
whizzed  over  his  head.  He  now  felt  sure  that  he  was  the 
mark  for  some  skulking  Indian  and  as  quickly  as  possible 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  to  the  house. 

The  red  men  seemed  to  realize  that  they  soon  would  have 
no  hunting  grounds,  as  the  buffalo  and  other  game  were  be 
ing  rapidly  killed  off  and  driven  .from  that  charming  andde- 
ligntful  valley,  as  the  ranchmen  put  in  their  cattle  and 
horses.  They  indeed  got" so  bad  for  a  while  that  the  ranch 
men  had  to  keep  a  watch  through  the  day  while  others  did 
their  work.  The  guard  would  go  with  his  horse*  and  gun 
and  station  himself  on  some  high  promontory  where  he 
could  see  all  over  the  surrounding  country  by  the  aid  of  his 
field  glass  and  should  he  discover  the  Indians  coming  he 
would  fire  a  signal  shot  and  gojto  the  ranch  in  post  haste  for 
defense  and  sometimes  they  barely  escaped  with  their  lives 
by  hiding  in  the  thick  brush  along  the  creek,  while  some 
times  their  cabins  were  being  burned  to  the  ground,  which 
they  generally  defended  only  when  the  red  men  were  too 
numerous  for  them. 

The  families  of  Bentlys  and  Ainsleys  were  never  molested 
after  Lillian  was  taken  away  by  the  roving  band  of  Indians 
(except  the  time  Mr.  Bently  was  shot  at,  and  he  was  un- 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  39 

doubtedly  mistaken  for  one  of  the  stock  men  who  had  real 
ly  been  cruel  to  them)  for  they  always  treated  them  kindly 
when  they  came  to  their  house  and  gave  them  something 
to  eat  if  they  asked  for  it,  which  they  were  always  sure  to 
do  when  they  came.  Of  course  the  story  of  Lillian's  disap 
pearance  was  told  to  more  than  one,  yet  none  seem  to  think 
other  than  that  she  had  been  killed  by  either  the  wild  beasts 
or  perhaps  the  Indians  had  killed  her  and  taken  her  pony. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Matthew's  twenty-first  birthday.  Preparations  made  to  search  for 
Lillian.  His  journey  through  the  Yellowstone  country.*  Winter 
in  the  Yellowstone  National  Park.  Description.  The  lone 
Indian. 

Mathew  was  a 
good,  honest  and 
industrious  boy  and 
learned  to  be  brave 
as  well.  His  birth 
day  was  slowly  ap 
proaching  when  he 
would  be  twenty- 
one  years  old.  "I«et 
-me-see,"  he  said 
to  himself  one  day, 
4 'September  fourth? 
Yes,  just  twenty 
days  more  and  I 
will  be  twenty-one. 
Oh,  what  an  under 
taking,"  he  said  to 
himself,  "but  I 
will  keep  my  vow." 
Of  course  there 
had  been  more  or 
less  talking  in  the 
families  and  be- 
MATHEW  BENTLY.  tween  them  as  to 

Mathew's  future,  but  he  always  managedjto  evade  any  di- 
Tect  answer  on  the  subject.  Yet  they  did  not  have  the 
least  thought  of  the  idea  which  Mathew  had  been  carrying 
all  these  years.  The  fourth  day  of  September  at  last  came 
and  Mathew  Bently  felt  that  he  was  nowfa  free  man,  not 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  41 

that  his  father  really  compelled  him  to  remain  with  him  and 
work  out  his  Full  time.  Far  from  it.  But  Mathew  felt  as 
though  itjwas  bis  duty  to  do  so,  and  he  was  one  of  those 
kind  of  boys  that  whatever  he  thought  his  duty  to  do  he 
was  willing  to  perform.  The  morning  of  September  fifth 
Mathew  was  up  bright  and  early.  It  was  a  delightful  one. 
The  sun  rose  slowly,  appearing  over  the  mountain  tops, 
melting  the  glistening  frost.  The  air  was  cool  and  bracing 
and  all  nature  seemed  to  enjoy  "that  beautiful  morning. 
Mathew  went  about  the  morning  chores  as  usual,  but  sing 
ing  in  a  low  mournful  tone  which  his  father  had  never- 
heard  before.  At  the  breakfast  table  he  indeed  looked  and 
felt  more  sorrowful  than  he  had  for  many,  many  months 
before.  The  thought  of  leaving  his  dear  parents  and 
friends,  to  go  he  knew  not  where,  made  him  downcast ,. 
for  it  was  a  hazardous  undertaking.  Mr.  Bently,  who 
noticed  his  son  looking  so  melancholy,  at  last  said,  "Well 
Mathew,  I  suppose  you  feel  that  you  are  a  man  today. 
Have  you  come  to  any  conclusion  as  to  the  vocation  you 
wish  to  follow?" 

"I  can't  4ecide  that  now,  father,"  he  said,  "for  I  have 
an  undertaking  before  me  which  I  must  attend  to  first." 

"And  what  is  it,"  inquired  his  mother,  very  much  con 
cerned? 

"Well,  mother,"  he  said  slowly,  "I  have  never  forgotten 
Lillian  and  believe  she  is  still  living  and  I  must  find  her." 

"Oh,  nonsense,  my  son,"  replied  Mr.  Bently,  "there  is 
no  doubt  but  that  the  poor  girl  has  been  dead  these  many 
years,  and  you  had  better  go  and  locate  on  that  piece  of 
land  across  the  creek,  for  someday  there  will  no  doubt  be  a 
railroad  running  up  this  valley  and  it  will  be  valuable 
property." 

Mathew's  only  answer  was,  "I  must  find  Lillian. " 


42  THE  IX)ST  SHACKLE. 

Mr.  Bently,  seeing  that  his  son  was  fully  determined  to 
make  the  search,  said: 

'  'Well,  my  dear  boy,  if  you  feel  that  it  is  the  only  right 
and  proper  thing  to  do,  then  go  and  may  God  bless  you 
and  your  efforts." 

"Thank  you,  father,"  said  Mathew  with  tears  in  his  eyes. 

Mathew  spent  the  day  in  making  the  necessary  prepara 
tions  as  far  as  possible  for  such  an  undertaking.  He  had 
taken  extra  good  care  of  the  horse  his  father  had  given  him 
a  year  before  and  had  him  in  fine  condition.  He  was  a 
beautiful  bay  horse,  medium  size,  with  white  hind  feet  and 
long,  heavy  mane  and  foretop.  He  was  very  quick  and  a 
splendid  traveler,  was  gentle  and  kind,  and  he  always 
seemed  to  appreciate  Mathew 's  kindness  to  him. 

Mr.  Bently  gave  Mathew  his  best  saddle  and  told  him 
that  he  had  better  get  up  Jack,  the  little  mule,  and  take 
him  along  for  a  pack  animal.  This  pleased  him  very  much 
for  he  had  really  been  at  a  loss  to  know  how  he  would  carry 
his  blankets  and  other  equipments,  but  he  had  been  taught 
that  where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way,  and  he  had  gone  on 
making  the  preparations.  He  had  also  cleaned  up  the  best 
rifle  and  revolver,  putting  them  in  prime  condition,  and  by 
nightfall  everything  was  in  good  shape  for  the  journey,  his 
mother  taking  care  that  he  had  plenty  of  blankets  and 
such  things. 

On  the  morning  of  the  sixth  day  of  September,  Mathew 
bade  farewell  to  his  parents  and  home  and  started  on  his 
quest  for  I^illian. 

Indian  Summer  is  always  a  delightful  time  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  regions.  The  soft  breezy  air  thrilling  with  a  sub 
tle  sense  of  rest  and  sweetness,  and  while  Mathew  felt  sad 
at  leaving  his  parents  and  home,  yet  his  pulse  beat  high 
with  hope. 

He  paused  on  a  knoll  and  took  a  parting  look  at  his 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  43 

home.  His  father  and  mother  still  stood  at  the  gate  watch 
ing  him  and  waved  their  handkerchiefs,  which  he  knew 
had  been  drying  the  tears  from  their  eyes.  He  stood  for  a 
moment,  waved  his  hat,  and  passed  out  of  their  sight. 

How  desolate  seemed  that  home,  for  the  only  son  had 
left  it,  and  they  knew  not  whether  he  would  ever  return. 
Still,  they  had  the  consolation  of  knowing  his  nobie  Chris 
tian  character,  which  greatly  relieved  their  fears  for  him. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ainsly  were  informed  of  Mathew's 
departure  and  his  dangerous  and  weary  quest,  they  were 
very  much  moved  by  his  fidility  and  loyalty  to  the  memory 
of  their  dear  lost  daughter,  and  hope  revived  somewhat  as 
they  commended  the  young  man  to  the  Heavenly  Father's 
care  that  night  at  the  family  altar.  "Well,"  said  Bessie, 
crying,  "he  might  at  least  have  come  and  said  good  bye." 

"He  told  me"  said  Mrs.  Bently  "to  give  you  all  a  lov 
ing  farewell  for  him. " 

Mathew  did  not  know  very  much  about  the  lay  of  the 
country-  farther  away  than  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  home, 
except  over  the  route  which  they  had  traveled  several  years 
before  in  coming  to  the  country.  He  had  decided  to  follow 
down  the  Yellowstone  river  some  distance  at  least,  as  below 
the  lower  canyon  on  that  river  was  considered  more  the  In 
dian  country,  and  then  later  would  perhaps  follow  up  some 
one  of  the  rivers  bearing  southward. 

At  the  end  of  his  first  day's  journey  he  camped  on  the 
rocky  banks  of  the  Yellowstone,  and  after  tethering  his 
horses  he  proceeded  to  fish  out  some  beautiful  trout  from 
its  bright  rippling  waters  which  he  cooked  and  ate  with 
part  of  the  lunch  his  mother  had  prepared.  Mathew  felt 
a  little  lonely  as  he  lay  down  to  sleep  that  night  for  he  had 
never  been  so  far  from  home  before,  but  was  so  tired  that 
he  slept  very  soundly  and  in  the  morning  was  up  quite  ear 
ly  and  soon  on  his  way  again.  He  passed  several  days  of 


44  THE  IvOST  SHACKLE. 

careful  maneuvering  and  travel,  without  any  clue  or  suc 
cess.  He  saw  many  Indians  and  their  camps  and  with  his 
field  glass  he  watched  them  and  their  movements  from  a 
long  distance  and  thereby  quite  'well  satisfied  himself  that 
there  were  no  white  people  with  them,  and  by  this  means, 
too,  was  able  to  avord  coming  directly  in  contact  with  them. 
In  several  places  he  saw  the  dead  bodies  of  the  Indians 
suspended  from  the  branches  of  trees,  wrapped  in  their 
blankets.  Some  of  them,  however,  where  the  strings  had 
rotted  and  decayed  had  fallen  to  the  ground,  and  their 
skulls  and  bones  lay  on  the  ground  bleaching  in^  the  sun 
light.  At  one  place  he  noticed  several  skulls  of  adults 
with  the  skin  dried  to  their  cheek  bones  and  the  most  of 
tnem  still  had  the  war  paint  on  them.  Some  of  them  with 
-black,  brown,  and  others  with  gray  hair  tied,  twisted  and 
knotted  as  in  real  life.  In  many  other  places,  he  found 
them  buried  just  a  little  under  the  ground,  with  leaves  and 
twigs  thrown  over  them,  stones  thrown  over  some  of  them 
in  high  heaps  or  mounds.  These  things  were  all  of  inter 
est  to  Mat  hew,  as  he  had  never  seen  the  like  before,  and 
it  was  also  giving  him  a  better  idea  of  their  habits. 

Mathew  determined  now  to  proceed  up  one  of  the  rivers 
bearing  to  the  southward.  There  was  only  a  trail  leading 
up  the  river  and  the  narrow  valley  through  which  he  had 
to  travel  *for  two  days  was  literally  strewn  with  boulders 
and  the  trail  zig-zagged  in  every  way  to  avoid  them.  At 
last  the  trail  led  him  to  the  entrance  of  quite  a  deep,  dark 
canyon.  As  he  neared  the  top  of  the  mountain  over  which 
the  trail  led  the  scene  was  grand. 

Below  him  flowed  the  beautiful  river,  dashing  and  splash 
ing,  and  which,  from  his  height,  looked  like  a  thread  of 
silver  winding  along  through  the  narrow  valley,  at  some 
points  touching  the  side  of  the  mountain  over  which  he  was 
riding  and  -again  winding  across  to  the  other  side  of  the 


THE  LOST  SHACKEL.  ^    45 

canyon,  dashing  its  waters  against  the  steep  cliffs  which 
showed  the  different  formations  of  rock  in  its  various  colors, 
red,  yellow,  and  grey,  and  the  everchanging  shades  which 
can  only  be  seen  in  the  grand  mountain  air  as  the  sun 
brings  them.  And  as  Mathew  rode  along  he  could  not 
help  but  feel  thankful  for  this  beautiful  world.  "Oh,  what 
a  beautiful  valley,"  he  thought  to  himself  as  he  descended 
into  it  on  the  other  side  of  the  canyon,  "and  what  a  lovely 
place  it  would  be  for  a  home."  The  great  snowy  peaks  to 
the  right  rose  like  enormous  pyramids  while  away  in  the 
distance  to  the  southward  were  a  succession  of  them;  to 
the  left  of  him  were  long  ranges  of  mountains  not  so  high 
but  crowned  with  beautifnl  green  forests,  The  valley 
varied  from  a  quarter  to  a  mile  in  width  and  was  watered 
by  the  beautiful  river  now  known  as  the  Bowlder. 

Matthew  had  brought  with  him  a  chart  which  he  had 
drawn  from  his  geography,  although  it  was  quite  imperfect 
at  this  time,  and  by  the  aid  of  his  compass  he  knew  that  he 
must  now  be  going  in  the  direction  of  the  Yellowstone  Na 
tional  Park  region.  He  not  having  any  success  in  his 
search  in  the  Yellowstone  country  now  determined  to  try 
and  find  a  way  through  the  mountains  to  the  head  waters 
of  the  Snake  river,  which  he  knew  headed  in  or  near  the 
Park.  He  fortunately  had  not  happened  to  come  in  im 
mediate  contact  with  the  savages  although  he  had  seen  a 
great  many  of  them,  and  only  once  met  a  small  party  of 
gold  hunters,  with  whom  he  camped  over  night  and  in  rela 
ting  his  story  to  them,  they  replied  that  they  thought  while 
he  was  quite  brave  and  venturesome,  yet  they  would  advise 
him  to  give  up  the  quest  and  return  to  his  home.  But 
Matthew,  learning  from  them  the  way  through  a  narrow 
pass  in  the  mountains  which  would  lead  him  over  onto  the 
head  waters  of  the  Yellowstone,  pressed  forward.  Some 
times  he  felt  very  lonely  and  almost  wished  himself  at 


46  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

home  again.  Every  day  he  would  see  an  abundance  of 
wild  game,  bands  of  elk,  deer,  mountain  sheep,  bevies  of 
grouse  and  orfce  in  a  while  some  buffalo,  but  he  never  wan 
tonly  killed  anything  except  as  he  needed  it  for  food.  By 
some  mistake  he  had  taken  a  different  trail  and  instead  of 
coming  out  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Yellowstone  he 
landed  at  the  Gardner  river,  perhaps  more  than  one  hundred 
miles  below.  He  at  last  reached  the  mammoth  hot  spring 
on  the  twenty-second  day  of  October. 

Matthew  was  indeed  quite  tired  out  and  so  were  his  ani 
mals  and  he  thought  it  best  to  tarry  here  for  a  few  days  for 
rest.  The  scenery  all  along  his  journey  had  been  a  contin 
ued  grandeur,  but  this  locality  far  surpassed  any  thing  he 
had  ever  seen  or  dreamed  of.  There  had  been  but  very 
little  snow  as  yet,  but  the  weather  was  getting  quite  cold, 
in  fact  the  ground  was  frozen  quite  hard  and  some  of  the 
mountain  streams  where  the  water  was  not  too  swift  were 
frozen  over  hard  enough  to  bear  up  a  horse.  Mathew 
knew  that  it  would  probably  set  in  stormy  in  that  high  al 
titude  before  many  days,  hence  he  wished  to  go  from  there 
as  soon  as  his  animals  were  sufficiently  rested  to  stand  the 
rest  of  the  journey  through  the  mountains,  which  was  quite 
a  long  one  yet.  He  had  been  camping  a  short  distance 
from  the  spring  in  a  clump  of  timber.  There  he  had  discov 
ered  an  old  wigwam  built  of  poles  with  the  earth  thrown 
up  against  it  all  around,  about  four  feet  high,  just  leaving  a 
place  to  go  in  and  out.  This  he  found  to  be  quite  a  com 
fortable  place.  He  had  decided  that  on  the  next  day,  which 
wonld  be  Monday,  he  would  start  on  his  journey,  as  he  had 
noticed  for  the  last  two  days  that  the  clouds  were  hovering 
close  to  the  mountains  and  he  knew  that  was  a  token  of 
storm  before  many  days.  On  Sunday  evening  it  began 
snowing  some  and  before  morning  it  was  storming  very 
hard,  snowing  and  blowing.  For  three  days  the  storm 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  47 

raged  and  Mathew  saw  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  go 
farther  through  the  mountains  very  soon  and  set  to  work  to 
fix  up  the  best  he  could  for  a  longer  stay. 

He  already  had  a  comfortable  place  in  the  old  wigwam, 
which  seemed  to  have  been  abandoned  for  many  years,  but 
the  poor  animals  which  had  stood  out  in  that  severe  storm 
were  cold  and  shivering  and  must  be  provided  for  as  soon  as 
possible.  He  soom  built  a  shed  for  them  with  poles  and 
covered  it  with  brush  and  pine  boughs,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  he  had  quite  a  comfortable  place  for  them  to  stay  in 
at  night,  but  of  course  the  only  feed  they  could  get  was  the 
grass  and  that  by  pawing  the  deep  snow  from  it,  which  was 
a  very  common  thing  for  horses  to  do  in  that  mountainous 
country. 

Few  have  not  read  a  description  of  the  now  famous 
Mammoth  Hot  Springs  of  the  Yellowstone  National  Park, 
but  to  have  seen  them  at  the  time  Mathew  was  there  was 
to  see  them  ere  they  had  been  shorn  of  any  of  their  beauty 
by  tourists  and  specimen  hunters  and  the  scene  then  pre 
sented  was  simply  magnificent  and  far  beyond  description. 
The  sides  of  the  mountains  were  ornamented  with  a  series 
of  semi-circular  basins  beautifully  scalloped  and  adorned 
with  a  kind  of  bead  work  of  limestone  formation  formed  as 
the  hot  water  boils  up  and  flows  over  the  sides  from  one 
basin  to  another.  The  circumference  of  the  basins  meas 
ured  from  ten  to  fifty  feet  and  the  succession  of  basins  ex 
tended  hundreds  of  feet  down  the  side  of  the  mountain. 
The  water  in  them  ranged  from  one  to  five  feet  deep. 

While  Mathew  called  it  a  limestone  formation,  he  was 
satisfied  it  was  composed  of  several  different  formalities  to 
produce  so  many  different  colors  in  the  bead  work  of  the 
basins  giving  out,  as  it  did,  all  colors  of  the  rainbow.  The 
water  was  so  clear  and  blue  that  he  could  look  down  into 
the  beautiful  depths  to  the  bottom  of  the  pools  or  basins, 


48  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

and  the  blue  sky  reflected  in  the  transparent  water  gave  an 
azure  tint  to  the  whole  which  surpasses  all  art.  To  see 
them  in  the  sunshine,  and  again  in  a  snow  storm,  is  an  ex 
perience  few  have  the  opportunity  to  behold.  The  steam 
rising  to  meet  the  clouds;  the  water  so  blue  and  deep, 
looking  so  placid  and  serene,  defying  the  ravages  of  Jack 
Frost  or  the  attempts  of  the  snow  to  mantle  them  with  her 
soft  covering,  for  the  heat  of  the  vapor  melts  it  as  fast  as  it 
falls.  Indeed  it  is  a  sight  once  seen  never  to  be  forgotten 
and  our  hero,  as  he  remained  there  so  long  a  time,  had 
many  an  experience,  both  pleasant  and  otherwise,  which 
helped  to  develop  perseverance  and  encourage  and  nerve 
him  for  the  arduous  work  of  life  yet  before  him. 

Cold  stormy  weather  had  realy  set  in,  in  earnest  and  the 
snow  got  very  deep  and  Mathew  had  many  experiences 
that  few  young  men  of  his  age  have  ever  dreamed  of.  He 
never  lacked  for  plenty  to  eat  as  there  was  still  an  abund 
ance  of  game  surrounding  him.  Often  bands  of  deer,  elk 
and  bison  came  trailing  down  the  side  of  the  mountains  to 
the  springs  for  water,  there  being  beautiful  springs  of  pure 
water  only  a  short  distance  from  his  camp. 

The  time  oftened  seemed  long  to  our  hero  and  he  was 
sometimes  at  a  loss  to  know  what  to  do. 

One  day,  while  he  was  standing  just  in  the  edge  of  the 
timber  in  which  he  was  camped  and  looking  over  at  the 
bubbling  waters  at  the  springs  and  the  beautiful  terraces  on 
the  mountain  side,  his  eye  was  attracted  to  a  lone  Indian 
who  emerged  from  a  thick  patch  of  willows,  slowly  hob 
bling  along  until  he  reached  one  of  the  hot  pools  of  water. 
Mathew  was  indeed  very  much  surprised,  as  he  stepped  be 
hind  a  tree  and  watched  him,  for  he  did  not  suppose  there 
was  a  human  being  within  many,  many  miles  of  where  he 
was  camping,  and  in  fact  he  did  not  have  the  least  idea 
that  he  was  within  about  seventy  or  eighty  miles  of  his  old 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  49 

home,  for  the  maps  at  this  early  *date  were  too  inadequate 
to  give  one  much  idea  of  distance  from  one  point  to  another 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

He  watched  the  Indian,  who  sat  down  close  by  the  pool, 
took  off  his  moccasins  and  put  his  foot  down  in  the  water. 
He  sat  in  that  position  for  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  perhaps 
and  then  put  his  leggings  and  moccasins  on  and  hobbled 
back  into  the  brush  again.  This  was  quite  a  mystery  to 
Mathew  and  he  was  very  cautious  for  a  few  days  until  he 
had  fully  satisfied  himself  that  the  Indian  was  alone.  Now 
he  determined  to  seek  his  abode,  and  perhaps  might  be  able 
to  learn  something  or  get  some  clue  to  Lillian's  whereabouts. 
The  next  dav  he  watched  for  him  as  he  seemed  to  always 
igo  to  the  pool  of  water  at  a  certain  time  in  the  day,  and 
went  over  to  where  he  was,  and  spoke  to  him.  But  the 
poor  old  man  only  nodded  his  head  and  looked  at  Mathew 
in  amazement,  scrutinizing  him  from  head  to  foot,  and  then 
took  out  his  pipe  which  looked  to  have  been  used  for  many, 
many  years,  filled  and  lighted  it,  took  one  puff  at  it  and 
handed  it  to  Mathew  who  knew  what  it  meant  and  took  one 
puff  and  handed  it  back  to  him.  (This  was  the  only  time 
that  Mathew  was  ever  known  to  smoke.)  He  then  began 
to  ask  the  old  Indian  questions  but  to  his  dismay  found  the 
poor  fellow  to  be  both  deaf  and  dumb.  He  had  got  his  foot 
hurt  in  some  way  and  seemed  to  think  there  were  medical 
properties  in  that  water  which  would  heal  him.  He  was 
quite  an  old  looking  man  with  long  gray  hair  which  was 
twisted  and  knotted  in  a  horrible  manner.  His  face  was 
wrinkled  and  some  of  the  war  paint  still  showed  on  his  bony 
cheeks. 

Mathew  looked  at  him  with  pity  as  he  came  to  the  con 
clusion  that  he  was  a  castaway  from  his  tribe.  He  one  day 
followed  the  old  man  to  his  wigwam  door  and  was  beckoned 
inside.  The  wigwam  was  built  about  the  same  as  the  one 


5o  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

which  Mathew  was  using'and  looked  very  old,  in  fact,  the 
whole  premises  seemed  to  have  been  used  for  a  long  time. 
The  wigwam  was  lined  inside  with  skins  and  furs  of  differ 
ent  kinds.  There  were  also  a  number  of  bows,  arrows, 
bead  work  of  different  kinds  and  a  great  many  other  things 
hanging  suspended  from  the  poles  and  as  Mathew  glanced 
around  over  the  interior  of  the  lonely  wigwam,  his  eyes 
were  attracted  to  one  place  where  there  were  some  furs 
hanging,  and  among  them  were  two  human  scalps  and  by 
closer  observation  he  noticed  that  one  of  them  had  long  curly 
auburn  hair  and  Mathew  wondered  could  that  have  been 
I,illian?  In  an  instant  he  was  on  his  feet,  holding  one  of 
the  curls  in  his  hand  as  he  exclaimed  in  mad  despair,  "It  is, 
oh  it  is,"  and  his  strong  right  arm  was  raised  with  all  the 
force  which  a  revengeful  mind  could  command  to  strike 
down  the  savage  villain  who  had  taken  from  him  and  her 
parents  the  life  of  that  poor  innocent  girl. 

The  old  savage,seeing  Mathew 's  look  and  movements  in 
stantly  tripped  him,  at  the  same  time  giving  him  a  push  and 
as  he  fell  headlong  to  the  ground  the  old  savage  with  more 
spryness  than  he  looked  to  have,  grasped  Mathew  by  the 
throat,  at  the  same  time  reaching  for  his  large  knife  with  his 
right  hand;  but  Mathew  being  a  little  too  quick  for  him 
knocked  it  out  of  his  hand.  Hard  struggling  ensued,  our 
hero  at  length  freed  himself  from  his  perilous  position  and 
soon  had  the  old  savage  down  under  him  with  his  hand  on 
his  throat,  and  as  he  looked  into  the  fiery  eyes  of  his  savage 
antagonist,  who  was  considerably  out  of  breath  and  almost 
powerless,  Mathew  thought,  "Now,  shall  I  slay  the  villain, 
the  murderer  of  I^illian?  "No,  no,  I  can  not"  said  he  as 
he  loosed  his  grasp  on  the  Indian,  '  'For  it  may  not  have 
been  him  after  all,  but  if  it  was  God  would  surely  bring  him 
to  justice,"  and  as  he  again  looked  at  the  curls  he  thought, 
"Oh,  the  cruel  wretch  how  can  I  let  him  live?"  Yet  Mathew 


THE  U)ST  SHACKLE.  51 

somehow  feft  that  he  had  done  wrong  perhaps  in  judging 
the  poor  old  Indian  after  all,  for  he  may  not  be  the  guilty 
one.  Mathew  would  indeed  have  felt  sorry  had  he  known 
that  the  taking  of  these  scalps  was  not  by  the  hand  of  this 
poor  old  Indian,  but  for  refusing  to  participate  in  a  bloody 
massacre  of  a  lot  of  emigrants,  he  was  banished  from  his 
tribe  with  all  the  threats  of  a  warrior's  anger  resting  upon 
the  poor  creature's  head,  and  in  that  lonely  abode  he  was 
doomed  to  die. 

Mathew  left  the  wigwam,  which  was  almost  unbearable  to 
him,  and  never  more  went  back.  For  a  few  days  after  he 
was  almost  overcome  with  despair,  little  caring  to  live^  yet 
his  better  judgment  told  him  to  have  courage  that  after  all 
that  might  not  have  been  Lillian's  scalp  and  finally  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  would  not  give  up  hope  but  that  he 
would  keep  up  his  search  until  something  further  would 
perhaps  more  certainly  reveal  the  truth.  Sometimes  when 
the  snow  was  frozen  hard  enough  to  bear  him  up  he  would 
make  tours  of  investigation,  making  some  wonderful  discov 
eries.  He  was  not  long  however  in  finding  out  that  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  be  very  careful  in  traveling  about  be 
cause  of  the  many  crevices  and  pit  falls  in  so  many  localities. 

One  day  he  was  walking  along  looking  at  different  ob 
jects  of  interest  when  he  chanced  to  glance  downward.  An 
other  step  would  have  landed  him  in  a  chasm  the  depths  of 
which  he  was  unable  to  discover.  This  incident  served  to 
make  him  more  cautious. 

The  mountains  of  black  or  obsidian  glass  and  the  petri 
fied  forest,  as  well  as  the  great  falls  of  the  Yellowstone  River, 
weYe  objects  of  great  interest  to  him. 

It  chanced  one  day  that  one  of  the  shoes  came  off  of  the 
pack  mule  and  not  having  nails  to  put  it  on  again  he 
thought  he  would  throw  it  in  one  of  the  basins  of  hot  water 
at  the  spring  to  see  if  the  water  would  have  any  effect  on 


5*  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

it.  In  a  few  days  after  he  noticed  a  white  sediment  form 
ing  over  it.  In  a  week  more  he  took  it  out.  It  was  well 
coated  over  with  the  limestone  formation,  solid  and  hard, 
making  a  beautiful  ornament.  He  also  threw  in  some  hair 
which  he  cut  from  his  horse's  tail.  It  coated  over  in  the 
same  way  and  he  thought  it  quite  wonderful. 

The  falls  of  the  Gardner  River,  the  paint  pots  of  boiling 
substance  with  all  the  variety  of  color,  the  mud  puffs  were 
all  of  great  interest  to  him,  as  well  as  the  great  and  small 
gysers  throwing  up  high  into  the  air  their  voluminous 
steam  or  spray.  The  beautiful  crested  cones,  the  magnifi 
cent  forests  on  the  mountain  sides  intersperced  with 
stretches  of  beautiful  pasture  land  where  the  elk,  deer  and 
buffalo  can  be  found  feeding  when  the  snow  is  not  too 
deep;  the  rough,  deep  and  dark  canyons  and  the  high, 
rocky  cliffs;  in  fact  the  country  about  is  productive  of  great 
admiration  to  the  lover  of  nature's  wonders  and  one  seldom 
tires  of  gazing  upon  its  beauties.  There  were  several  deep 
holes  around  and  about  the  springs,  crusted  with  the  forma 
tion,  in  some  of  which  Mathew  was  unable  to  see  the  bot 
tom,  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  must  be  ex 
tinct  gysers.  L,ittle  did  he  think  when  gazing  on  these 
beautiful  works  of  nature  that  some  day,  within  a  few  hun 
dred  yards  of  where  he  was  camped,  there  would  stand  a 
hotel  large  enough  to  accommodate  one  thousand  people 
and  a  railroad  running  to  its  very  border. 

"But  the  world  rolls  on  in  endless  years 
And  unfolds  to  man  its  mysteries." 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  53 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Mathew's  journey  resumed.  The  discovery  of  a  strange  cabin 
Midnight  adventure  with  an  Indian.  A  clue  to  Lillian.  -Sun 
shine  Shadowed.  Travels  down  the  Gallatin  River.  Across  the 
country  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Missouri  River.  A  strange 
companion. 

It  was  late  in  April  before  the  snow  was  gone  sufficiently 
for  Mathew  to  resume  his  journey  through  the  mountains. 
His  horse  and  pack  animal  being  yet  in  quite  bad  condition 
made  it  very  slow  traveling.  The  snow  was  nearly  gone 
off  on  the  south  side  of  the  hills  and  mountains,  but  in  the 
gulches,  where  it  had  rolled  and  drifted,  it  was  in  some 
places  fifty  to  sixty  feet  deep  but  was  hard  enough  so  that 
Mathew  could  ride  over  it  safely.  He  followed  up  the 
Gardner  River  intending  to  go  through  the  Big  Horn  pass 
on  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Gallatin  and  thought  perhaps 
he  might  strike  some  trail  that  would  lead^him  on  across 
the  mountains  and  down  into  the  Snake  River  country  in 
Idaho;  but  if  he  had  known  what  an  undertaking  this 
would  be  he  undoubtedly  would  not^have  chosen  this  route. 
He  was  several  days  ascending  the  Gardner  River  and  into 
the  Big  Horn  pass.  He  had  seen  no  evidence  of  human 
beings  except  that  one  evening  as  he  was  turning  to  one 
side  of  the  trail  to  camp  he  noticed  a  rude  looking  old 
cabin  to  the  right  of  him,  some  distance  off  in  the  edge  of 
some  timber.  He  rode  up  to  it  and,  finding  it  unoccupied, 
decided  to  stay  in  it  for  the  night.  The  cabin  or  hut  was 
built  of  round  fir  logs,  perhaps  eight  or  ten  inches  in  diam 
eter,  some  of  which  were  getting  quite  rotten  in  places. 
The  hut  was  probably  ten  by  twelve  feet  inside  and  covered 
over  with  heavy  poles  then  earth  and  clay  thrown  on,  the 
roof  being  sloping  enough  so  that  it  would  turn  the  water. 


54  THE  U>ST  SHACKLE. 

There  WM  a  door  in  one  end  of  the  cabin  which,  was  made 
of  large  willows,  each  piece  being  tied  and  interwoven  with 
strong  willow  wisps  but  was  now  quite  rotten,  in  fact  so 
much  so  that  the  door  would  hardly  hold  together.  The 
weeds  had  grown  up  around  the  cab'n  and  grass  and  weeds 
almost  covered  the  roof.  The  only  place  to  let  the  light  in 
was  where  a  part  of  two  logs  were  cut  out  on  one  side, 
leaving  a  hole  eight  by  twelve  or  fourteen  inches.  The  in 
side  of  the  building  was  daubed  with  a  kind  of  clay.  The 
outside  had  also  been  daubed  but  the  storms  had  beaten  it 
nearly  all  out.  In  one  corner  was  a  rude  fire  place  and, 
from  all  appearances,  it  did  not  draw  any  too  well,  as  the 
room  was  smoked  up  a  great  deal.  In  another  corner  was 
a  roughly  made  bedstead  or  bunk  with  forked  sticks,  which 
had  been  driven  in  the  ground  but  was  now  rotted  off,  and 
poles  laid  on.  There  were  also  some  deer  horns  fixed  up 
to  the  logs  overhead  which  they  probably  used  to  hold  their 
guns.  After  Mathew  had  taken  care  of  his  horses;  and 
cooked  his  supper  by  the  old  fire-place,  and  as  he  sat  down 
alone  in  the  light  of  the  fire,  his  mind  drifted  back  to  his 
home  and  friends,  and  then  he  'thought  of  his  present  loca 
tion  and  condition,  and  then  he  looked  away  into  the 
apparently  gloomy  future.  »  But  as  he  was  quite  tired  he  at 
last  propped  up  the  old  bunk  and  made  his  bed  down,  and 
soon  went  to  sleep.  He  did  not  know  how  long  he  had 
been  sleeping,  when  he  was  suddenly  awakened  by  curious 
noises  in  the  cabin,  overhead,  under  the  bed,  and  apparent 
ly  in  every  corner.  "What  in  the  world  is  it?"  he  thought 
to  himself,  as  he  listened.  As  he  awoke,  however,  he 
turned  himself  a  little,  and  the  noise  ceased,  except  a  rap 
ping  noise,  apparently  overhead,  for  awhile,  and  then  all 
was  quiet  again.  "Could  it  be  ghosts,"  he  first  thought, 
"in  this  strange  oabin?"  "No,"  he  said,  as  he  did  not 
Selieve  in  such  things,  and  he  lay  quietly  listening,  but  at 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  55 

last  fell  asleep.  Again  he  was  awakened  by  the  noise  the 
same  as  before.  He  was  now  determined  to  find  out  what 
it  was.  As  he  moved,  the  noise  again  ceased,  except  the 
rapping  overhead.  It  took  some  nerve,  but  Mathew  sprang 
to  his  feet  and  lit  the  lantern,  and,  with  his  revolver  in  one 
hand  and  the  lantern  in  the  other,  he  went  cautiously 
about  the  room,  looking  in  every  corner  and  under  the 
bunt,  but  could  see  nothing.  At  last  his  eyes  were  di 
rected  to  the  logs  overhead,  and  there  was  the  rascal  who 
was  making  all  the  noise.  A  large  mountain  rat  sat 
perched  upon  the  ridge  pole,  holding  one  of  Mathew 's  socks 
in  its  mouth.  He  at  once  shot  it  and  heard  the  squabbling 
of  two  or  three  more,  but  for  the  rest  of  the  night  every 
thing  was  quiet,  except  the  distant  howling  of  a  band  of 
wolves. 

The  next  morning  when  he  arose  he  found  his  boots  had 
been  taken  off  to  one  corner  of  the  room,  his  other  sock  had 
been  carried  to  the  nest  up  over  head,  his  knife,  fork  and 
spoon  were  piled  in  another  corner  of  the  cabin  with  some 
old  bones  and  sticks,  and  the  tin  plates  were  under  the  bed. 
In  searching  around  for  the  various  articles  which  the  rats 
had  carried  off,  Mithew  found  a  rather  flat,  oblong  bottle, 
with  the  letters  "R.  I.  111."  on  one  side  of  it.  On  one  of 
the  logs  close  to  the  window  place,  where  the  bark  had 
been  shaved  off,  were  the  names,  plainly  cut:  "Jack  Mil 
ler"  and  ''Bill  Kelley,"  dated  October,  1849. 

Around  the  cabin  on  the  outside  were  many  bones  of  an 
imals  of  different  kinds  and  some  elk  and  deer  horns,  also  a 
buffalo  and  bear  skull.  Matthew  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  these  two  men  had  been  prospecting  for  gold.  The 
winter  had  set  in  so  early  that  they  were  probably  compelled 
to  build  the  cabin  and  winter  there.  The  next  day 
Mathew  saw  a  track  crossing  the  trail,  but  could  not  tell 
whether  it  was  a  bear's  or  that  of  an  Indian.  He  still  had 


56  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

spells  of  discouragement  and  sometimes  almost  wished  him 
self  at  home  again,  helping   with   the   ranch  work,  and  yet 
what  would  his  life  be,  he  thought,  without  L,illian,  when 
he   felt  in  his  heart  that  she  was  still  living,  and  with  that 
encouraging  thought  he  pressed  on.     He  had  been  decend. 
ing    the   Gallatin  river  slope  for  two  days,    and   the  next 
m  orning  when  he  went  to  put  the  pack  on  the  mule  he  no 
ticed  that  the  pack  saddle  had   slipped  forward  too  far  and 
had  made  the  mule's  back  quite  sore.     Matthew  thought  to 
ride   the   mule   for  a  few  days  and  let  the  horse   carry   the 
pack   would   be   better.      The   mule   kicked  up  a  little  at 
first  when  Mathew  got  on,  as  he  had  never  been  ridden  be 
fore,  but  started  off  very   easily   after   awhile,  and  Mathew 
began  to  think  he  had  made  a  good  change,  when  down  the 
mountain  a  little  farther  it  became  more  steep  and  the  cinch 
working  a  little  loose  the  saddle  slipped  forward  on  the  sore. 
In   an  instant  and  without  warning  the  mule's  heels   went 
up  in  the  air,  and  Mathew  went  on  over  the  long  ears  onto 
the  ground,  and   before   he   could   catch   himself  he  rolled 
about   twenty  feet  down  the  steep  bank  into  the  gulch  be 
low.     When  he  got  up  unhurt   but  a  little  wet  and  muddy 
he  could  not  help  laughing,  for  the  mule  was  standing  with 
his   front  feet  braced  and  his  long  ears  pointing  forward   at 
an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees,    looking  at  him.     Al- 
thongh  a  good  rider,  Mathew  did  not  care  to  be  taken   un 
awares  again  so  he  changed  his  saddle. 

At  last  he  came  to  the  rocky  banks  of  the  Gallatin  river. 
It  was  nearly  dark  when  he  turned  his  horses  on  the  grass. 
They  were  yet  in  poor  condition  and  finding  the  feed  so 
,  good  he  decided  ao  remain  a  few  days  and  let  them  recruit 
up.  Here  he  found  a  small,  beautiful,  basin  with  large  fir 
trees  scattered  through  it,  a  small  branch,  threaded  with 
alder  brush  along  its  banks,  wended  its  way  through  it  and 
into  the  Gallatin  river.  There  were  also  many  large  rocks 


THE  LOST  SHACKLB.  57 

scattered  here  and  there,  as  they  had  rolled  from  the  rocky 
cliffs  beyond  the  bench-like  hills. 

Mathew  had  just  kindled  a  fire  beside  a  large  pine  stump, 
when  he  heard  a  low  groaning.  His  horse  also  heard  it 
and  raised  his  head  and  snorted.  Our  hero  looked  and 
listened  but  all  was  quiet,  except  the  horses  biting  off  the 
tender  bunch-grass  around  the  campfire,  and  he  went  to 
work  cooking  his  supper  of  dried  venison,  buffalo  meat, 
and  some  berries  which  he  had  dried  the  fall  before.  As  he 
was  sitting  down  to  his  repast,  he  heard  the  strange  noise 
again,  but  not  so  plainly  as  before,  but  when  he  was  partly 
through  eating,  he  heard  it  more  distinctly  than  ever,  and 
Mathew  thought  '  'Can  it  be  possible  that  it  is  a  human  be 
ing?  It  sounded  so  much  like  the  groaning  of  one  and  yet 
it  is  hardly  possible."  At  any  rate  he  was  determined  to 
find  out.  He  picked  up  his  rifle,  and,  seeing  it  was  well 
loaded  he  started  out  in  the  dim  moonlight,  as  the  moon 
was  partly  obscured  by  passing  clouds. 

Mathew  had  gone  but  a  little  way  when  he  heard  the 
groaning  nearer  and  more  plainly  than  before,  and  then  he 
thought  perhaps  it  might  be  something  trying  to  lure  him 
away  from  the  blazing  fire  and  he  hesitated  as  to  going 
farther.  Once  more  a  long  groaning  was  heard  and  more 
distinctly  than  ever.  "I  am  almost  certain"  said  he  to 
himself,  "that  is  some  human  being,"  and  he  stepped  care 
fully  on  about  fifty  yards  further  when  he  was  much 
startled  to  see  only  a  few  feet  from  him,  a  large  wooly  an 
imal  lying  down,  and  hearing  a  low  short  breathing, 
Mathew  raised  his  gun  to  fire,  but  as  the  hammer  of  it  went 
click,  click,  he  was  greatly  surprised  to  hear  the  words,  in 
broken  English,  "Don't  shoot,  me  good  Injun."  A  closer 
inspection  in  the  dim  moonlight  revealed  a  large  bear  lying 
by  his  side,  and  the  Indian  continued  "Me  kill  bear,  bear 
kill  Injun,  most."  Mathew  quickly  went  to  his  assistance 


58  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

and  found  the  poor  fellow   quite   badly   hurt,  and  bleeding 
badly.     He  set  to"  work  dressing  his  wounds   the   best   he 
could,  and  soon  stopped   the   bleeding.     Indeed  it  seemed 
good  to  Mathew  to  hear  a  human  voice  once  more,  although 
that   of  a  poor  Indian,  and  he  tenderly  cared   for   him   the 
best  he  knew  how.     After  he  had  fixed  the  poor  fellow  up 
and  made  him  as  comfortable   as   possible,    he  moved  the 
rest   of  his  camping  outfit  down  to  a  big  dry  log   close   by, 
and  kindled  a  fire,  made  some  broth  from  the  dried  venison 
and  gave  it  to  him.     The  Indian  ate  a  little  of  it,  and  soon 
went   off  to  sleep.     Mathew  sat  up  with  the  poor   Indian, 
and  cared  for  him  as  though  he  were  a  brother  until  morn 
ing.      He  not  only  felt  it  his  duty,  but  was  glad   to  have 
come  across   him,    for   possibly   he   might   give  him  some 
knowledge  or  clue  that  would  lead  or  aid  him  to  the  object 
of  his    quest.     Two  or  three  times  during   the   night   our 
hero  heard  him  say  in  his  sleep,  "Good  white  man.     Good 
white  man,"  and  at  times  he  was  quite  flighty,  sometimes 
apparently   trying  to  free  himself  from   some   antagonist. 
He  did  not  wake   until   long    after   Mathew   had  had  his 
breakfast  the  next  morning,  but  seemed  to  feel  very  much 
better  when  he  gave  him  his  breakfast.     It   refreshed  him 
considerably  and  he  got  up  and  tried  to' hobble  about  some, 
but  it  seemed  to  make  him  faint.     He  apparently  felt  very 
grateful  to  Mathew  for  his  kindness,  and  said:   "You  good 
white  man.     You  save  poor   Injun's  life,"  and  later  in  the 
day,  when  he  was  feeling  better  and  more  able  to  talk,  he 
told  him  how  he  had   trailed   the   old   bear,  with  six  cubs, 
and   killed   them,  one  by  one,  until  finally   he   had   killed 
all  but  the  old  bear,    and  being   close   to  her  he  shot,  but 
only  wounded  her,  and  she  turned  on  him  and  in  the  fight 
almost  killed  him,  but  he  finally  succeeded  in  thrusting  his 
knife  into  a  vital  part.      The   next   clay  the  Indian  seemed 
better,  and  improved  nicely  from  day  to  day  under  Mathew's 


THE  LOST  SHACKEIv.  59 

careful  attention,  and  he  talked  more  freely  and  from  him 
our  hero  received  some  most  useful  and  encouraging  in 
formation.  He  learned  that  the  Indian  had  come  from 
Idaho,  but  had  roamed  over  a  great  deal  of  the  mountain 
country  and  had  as  near  as  Mathew  could  make  out,  for 
some  reason  or  other,  been  a  wanderer  from  his  tribe. 
Mathew  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  seen  white  people  with 
any  of  the  tribes  of  Indians.  He  said  "No,"  as  he  shook 
his  head  in  the  negative.  He  seemed  to  be  in  a  study  for  a 
moment,  and  then  said:  ' 'Injun  see  white  woman."  "When 
did  Injun  see  white  woman?"  asked  Matthew,  with  more 
interest.  /'Many  moons,"  at  the  same  time  holding  up  all 
his  fingers,  and  then  crossing  the  one  hand  with  the  other. 
Mathew  reckoned  the  time  to  be  twelve  or  fifteen  months, 
perhaps. 

"Where  did  Injun  see  white  woman?"  asked  Mathew. 
He  again  studied  a  moment,  and  pointing  in  a  northerly 
direction,  said,  "Way,  way." 

"How  far  off  to  where  Injun  saw  'white  woman?'  "  asked 

Mathew. 

And  he  said  with  a  wave  of  his  hand,  "Big  Muddy  way." 
"Did  Injun  see  white   woman   in   mountains?"  Mathew 

asked. 

He  nodded  his  head  in  the  affirmative,  and  said,  "Heap 
big  mountains,  way  high,"  as  he  raised  his  hand  as  high 
as  he  could. 

"What  tribe  white  woman  with?"  asked  Matthew. 
"Him  with  Big  Nez  Perces." 

"Does  Injun  belong  to  Nez  Perces?"  asked  Mathew. 
"Me  Bannock,"  he  answered. 

Again  our  hero  asked,  "Are  the  Bannocks  and  Nez  Per 
ces  friends?" 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  then  grunted  as  though 


60  THE  LOST 

some  of  his  wounds  were  hurting  him,  and  said,  "Heap 
big  Nez  Perces.  Bannock  him  fraid," 

Mathew  again  asked  him  if  it  was  far  to  where  he  saw 
the  white  woman. 

Again  the  Indian  answered,  with  a  wave  of  the  hand  and 
pointing  in  a  northerly  direction,  "Way  over  Big  Muddy, 
heap  high." 

Mathew  now  felt  pretty  well  satisfied  that  the  Indian 
meant  what  he  said. 

The  Indian  then  asked,  "White  woman  yo'  squaw?" 

"No.  She  may  be  my  friend,"  answered  Mathew.  He 
continued  "Wont  Injun  go  with  white  man  and  help  get 
white  woman?" 

"Yes,  Injun  him  go,  show  white  man  heap  gold,  too. 
White  man  him  heap  good,  him  save  poor  Injun's  life," 
and  he  patted  Mathew  on  the  shoulder. 

Mathew 's  heart  beat  high  with  hope.  Could  it  be  possi 
ble  that  this  was  Lillian,  he  thought;  and  yet,  what  about 
the  auburn  curls  in  that  lonely  wigwam?  He  pondered 
over  the  matter  until  the  next  day,  when  he  thought  of  a 
question  which  might,  perhaps,  give  him  a  better  idea  and 
he  asked:  "White  woman  have  black  hair,  like  Injun?" 

He  laughed  and  shook  his  head  in  the  negative,  then 
rubbed  his  fingers  down  over  his  cheeks,  saying,  "White 
woman  him  color  hair — long." 

Mathew  now  felt  quite  certain  that  it  was  Lillian  whom 
the  Indian  had  seen.  Still,  he  thought,  many  things 
might  have  happened  since  then,  and  •  though  she  yet  be 
alive,  what  danger  and  trouble  he  might  have  in  trying  to 
rescue  her;  but  Mathew  cared  not  for  the  hardships  and 
dangers  if  it  were  only  Lillian.  He  removed  the  hide  from 
the  large  bear  and  partially  tanned  it,  according  to  the  In 
dian's  instructions,  making  it  a  nice  addition  to  his  bedding. 
He  still  took  the  best  care  of  the  Indian  that  he  could,  and 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  61 

he  seemed  to  be  improving  day  by  day,  and  Mathew  began 
to  think  that  it  would  be  only  a  few  days  until  they  would 
be  able  to  start  on  their  journey.  Mathew  was  getting 
rery  anxious  to  start  on  the  journey  again,  as  he  now  felt 
certain  that  he  at  last  had  the  right  clue,  and  really  felt 
sorry  for  the  way  he  had  accused  the  poor  old  Indian  of 
having  murdered  Lillian.  He  now  began  to  feel  elated 
over  the  idea  that  he  would  also  have  an  ally  in  the  Indian, 
who  perhaps  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  him,  in  help 
ing  to  rescue  the  girl  if  they  found  her;  but  now  the  sun 
shine  was  shadowed,  for  that  very  night  there  came  up  & 
heavy  rain  and  hail  storm,  and  Mathew- and  the  Indian  got 
soaking  wet.  From  this  the  poor  Indian  caught  a  severe 
cold  and  he  suddenly  began  to  grow  worse  in  spite  of 
Mathew 's  best  endeavors,  and  two  days  after  he  passed 
away.  His  last  words  were,  with  a  smile  on  his  lips,  and 
looking  up  into  Mathew' s  face  as  he  kindly  bent  over  him 
in  silent  prayer:  "Good  white  man.  Meet  poor  Injun  in 
happy  hu-n-t-i-n-g "  and  he  was  no  more,  and  as  Mathew 
gazed  upon  the  dead  body  of  that  red  man,  he  thought  to 
himself, 

"The  battle  is  ended;  the  hero  goes 

Worn  and  scarred  to  his  last  repose. 

He  has  won  the  day,  he  has  conquered  doom, 

He  has  sunk — unknown,  to  his  nameless  tomb." 

Mathew  now  felt  more  solitary  than  ever  before  in  his 
life.  He  dug  the  grave  and  quietly  laid  the  poor  Indian 
down  in  it  to  rest,  and,  as  he  slowly  piled  the  stones  over 
tke  grave,  he  could  not  help  his  tears  mingling  with  them. 

He,  now  so  lonely  and  sad,  began  making  preparations 
to  resume  his  journey  on  the  morrow.  He  had  buried  all 
the  belongings  of  the  Indian  with  the  body,  except  the 
knife  which  he  used  in  killing  the  bear.  It  was  rather  a 
large  butcher  knife,  pointed,  like  a  dirk,  but  in  the  tussle 


62  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

with  the  bear  the  point  was  broken  off,  and  this  he  felt  as 
though  he  ought  to  keep  as  a  reminiscence. 

'Twas  about  8  o'clock  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  May 
when  Mathew,  for  the  last  time,  gazed  upon  the  lonely 
grave  of  his  rude  brother  and  started  on  his  weary  journey 
down  the  Gallatin  river. 

His  horses  had  recruited  up  so  they  were  in  very  good 
condition  for  traveling,  but,  owing  to  the  uncertainty  of  the 
route  and  knowing  too  that  at  any  time  he  might  encounter 
a  band  of  Indians  (which  he  now  wished  to  avoid  as  much 
as  possible},  he  traveled  very  slowly  and  cautiously.  He 
passed  through  rocky  and  deep  canyons  and  many  curious 
sights  met  his  ^aze.  In  one  deep  coulee,  at  the  head  of  a 
gulch,  Mathew  counted  about  thirty  buffalo  carcasses  jam 
med  and  crowded  over  one  another.  He  surmised  that  the 
buffalo  had  been  driven  in  there  by  some  of  the  severe 
storms  during  the  previous  winter  and  the  snow  blowing 
and  drifting  in  such  a  way  that  it  made  an  impenetrable 
barrier  against  them,  and  they  were  forced  to  stay  and  per 
ish  in  the  cold  and  snow.  In  another  gulch,  one  day,  he 
noticed  two  mountain  sheep  heads  with  the  big  horns  inter 
locked  and  hanging  over  a  large  fir  limb  some  twenty  feet 
from  the  ground.  Part  of  the  vertebraes  were  still  con 
nected  with  the  heads.  In  looking  at  them  with  the  field- 
glass,  Mathew  noticed  that  the  horns  perfectly  interlocked 
and  caught  on  the  limb  which  had  partially  grown  over 
them.  Mathew  finally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  some 
time,  when  the  gulch  was  full  of  snow,  two  sheep  had  met 
there  and  getting  their  horns  interlocked  and  perhaps  so 
near  exhausted  that  they  could  not  free  themselves  either 
from  the  limb  or  each  other,  had  died  in  that  position  and 
when  the  snow  melted  away  it  left  them  suspended  in  the 
air.  This  of  course  was  only  his  conclusion  but  it  is  more 
than  likely  a  correct  one.  In  another  place,  on  the  very 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  63 

top  of  an  almost  perpendicular  cliff,  very  high  in  the  air,  he 
noticed  a  rock  the  very  shape  of  a  lion  crouched  upon  the 
stone.  The  nose,  eyes,  ears  and  breast,  in  fact  the  whole 
form,  was  almost  as  perfect  as  a  living  lion. 

He  had  no  little  difficulty  in  some  of  the  canyons,  some 
times  coming  to  a  place  where  the  high  bluffs  came  close 
up  to  the  water's  edge  and  he  would  have  to  cross  and  re- 
cross  in  many  places  and  it  \\  as  very  difficult  and  dangerous 
as  the  breaking  up  of  winter  caused  the  river  to  be  very 
much  swollen.  Sometimes  large  cakes  of  ice  and  other 
drift  would  go  down  the  swift  current  dashing,  and  plung 
ing,  and  only  those  who  have  seen  the  swift  mountain 
streams  can  fully  realize  that  it  was  a  perilous  undertaking. 
After  traveling  thus  for  several  days  he  at  length  came  out 
into  the  main  Gallatin  valley.  He  had  not  yet  met  with 
any  Indians,  but  had  crossed  several  of  their  trails  and 
passed  by  a  few  of  their  smouldering  fires.  He  was  de 
lighted  with  the  valley,  its  grand  expase  of  country  with 
beautiful  streams  meandering  through  it  like  silvery 
threads  making  it  a  veritable  paradise  for  the  redmen  and 
the  buffalo.  The  streams  were  skirted  along  in  places 
with  small  cottonwood  groves,  alder  brush  and  willows, 
and  game  was  plentiful  everywhere.  Mathew  became 
more  and  more  watchful  and  wary,  not  knowing  at  what 
time  he  might  encounter  some  of  the  savages. 

There  were  a  few  men  who  had  married  squaws  (squaw 
men  commonly  called)  living  scattered  here  and  there  along 
some  of  the  creeks,  but  he  was  not  at  that  time  aware  of  it. 
In  some  way  he  had  lost  his  compass,  which  made  it  more 
difficult  to  travel  in  the  right  direction,  and  one  day  during 
a  very  hard  shower  of  rain  he  became  somewhat  bewil 
dered  and  instead  of  going  northward  he  bore  off  very 
much  to  the  westward.  •  Thus  he  journeyed  along  until  he 
came  to  where  three  rivers  united,  and  he  felt  certain  that 
was  the  head  of  the  great  Missouri  river. 


64  THE  LOST  SHAOKBL. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A  strange  companion.     The  old   man's  story.     Matthew's  journey 
resumed. 

Mathew  knew  at  once  that  he  had  gone  entirely  too  far 
to  the  westward,  for  his  chart  showed  that  these  three  rir- 
ers,  the  Gallatin,    Madison  and  Jefferson,  formed  the  Mis 
souri  river,  and  he  was  really  surprised  to  find  that  he  had 
gone  so  far  out  of  his  way,  and  more  surprised  when  he 
came  up  to  a  log  cabin  before  he  hardly  knew  he  was  near 
it,  and  was  accosted  by  a  rather   pleasant   spoken  but  dirty 
looking  man  perhaps  sixty  years  old.     It  was  near   camp 
ing  time  and  Mathew  asked  him  the  privilege   of  camping 
in  the  grove  by  which    his  cabin   was   nearly   surrounded. 
He  gave  his  consent,    and    Mathew    was  turning  to  a   nice 
place  to  camp,  when  the  cabin  door  once  more  opened,  and 
quite  a  tall  Indian  squaw  with  two  children  made  their  ap 
pearance.     As  he  began  unpacking  his  horse  the   old   ma* 
came  up  and  began   asking  questions,  where  he   had   come 
from  and  so  on.     He  told  him  that  he  had  come  down    the 
Gallatin  river  from  the   mountains  on  his  way  to  the  north, 
but  had  wandered  far  out  of  the  way,  but  gave  him  no  idea 
as  to  the  object   of  his   trip.     Mathew  asked  the  old   man 
concerning  the  Indians  and  his  safety,    and  was  assured  by 
him  that  as  long  as   he   remained    there,  both   he   and   hk 
property  would  not  be  molested,  and  for  which  Mathew  in« 
deed  felt  very  thankful,  for  he  was  quite  tired  out  from  his 
long  watchfulness,  and  he  thought  now  to  get  a  good  night's 
rest.     He  made  his  bed  down  soon  after  supper  and  retired 
for  the  night.     He  slept  very    soundly,  scarcely  awaking 
until  the  sun  was  peeping  over  the  Bridger  mountains  some 
fifty  miles  away.     While  he  was  cooking  his  rude  meal  the 
old  man  came  out  to  his  camp  bringing  some  corn  meal  and 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  65 

offered  it  to  him,  which  was  very  gratfully  received  for 
Mathew  had  used  his  last  several  days  before  aud  had 
missed  it  greatly.  He  did  not  feel  rested  sufficiently  that 
he  wanted  to  travel  that  day  and  asked  the  old  man  for 
permission  to  remain  longer  and  he  readily  granted  it,  and 
as  Mathew  looked  at  him  he  thought  to  himself,  that  man 
has  seen  brighter  days,  he  has  a  history  which  I  would 
like  to  know.  He  changed  his  horses  to  better  pasture 
and  when  he  came  back  to  camp  there  sat  the  old  man  and 
two  children  about  six  and  eight  years  old  perhaps.  "Are 
these  your  children?"  Mathew  asked.  The  old  man  said 
they  were  as  he  looked  at  them. 

"I  suppose  you  have  been  here  a  long  time"  said 
Mathew.  "Yes"  he  replied  as  he  looked  away  in  the  dis 
tance.  Then  Mathew  asked  all  about  the  country,  the 
Indian  tribes  and  many  other  things  and  for  all  his  -quest 
ions  and  answers  to  them,  was  fully  satisfied  that  Lillian 
was  not  in  that  part  of  the  country.  He  also  told  Mathew 
about  other  squaw  men  in  the  valley  and  told  him  a  great 
many  more  things  of  much  interest  to  him.  He  also  asked 
Mathew  a  great  many  questions  and  he  told  him  the  story 
of  Lillian's  disappearance,  his  travels,  about  the  lone  Indian 
in  the  park,  also  about  the  poor  Indian  whom  he  had  laid 
to  rest  far  up  in  the  mountains  and  also  the  clue.  He  also 
told  him  the  vow  which  he  had  made  several  years  before. 
The  old  man  looked  at  him  and  said  "Well  you  are  a  brave 
and  noble  hearted  boy,  I  hope  God  will  crown  your  efforts 
with  success  and  that  some  day  you  will  be  a  prosperous 
and  happy  man.' '  "This  old  man' '  said  he  as  he  cast  a  sad 
look  at  himself  "was  once  a  hopeful  and  happy  man,  but," 
and  then  paused  as  if  waiting  to  be  asked  a  question. 
Mathew  looking  him  in  the  face  remarked.  "I  believe  you 
sir  and  would  sincerly  like  to  know  your  history. "  The  old 
man  seemed  to  feel  sad  as  he  again  looked  at  the  children 


66  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

who  were  playing  in  the  sand  at  his  feet  and  said,  "Well  I 
will  give  it  to  you,"  and  he  began:  ' 

"The  old  man's  story." — "Many  years  ago,  way  back  in 
the  Mississippi  valley,  I  married  a  young  and  charming 
wife.  She  was  loving  and  kind  and  we  lived  very  happy 
together.  By-and-by  a  little  girl  baby  came  to  our  house — 
a  dear  sweet  little  creature — and  we  both  thought  every 
thing  of  her.  As  time  went  by,  wife  and  I  were  both  con 
verted  to  the  Mormon  faith,  and  were  persuaded  to  immi 
grate  with  a  company  of  Mormons,  who  were  then  making 
preparations  to  go  to  Utah.  We  considered  the  matter  and 
finally  went  with  them.  I  was  a  poor  but  honest  hardwork 
ing  man,  and  it  took^  all  we  had  to  get  to  the  promised 
land,  (Utah.)  We  had  a  long  and  dangerous  journey  across 
the  plains.  Many  of  us  sometimes  were  sick  and  nearly 
starving,  but  we  thought  it  was  in  a  good  cause  and  jour 
neyed  on  without  lamenting, except  over  the  graves  of  a  few 
whom  we  left  by  the  wayside.  The  plains  were  then  al- 
almost  covered  with  Indians,  and  a  few  times  we  narowly 
escaped  with  our  lives  but  finally  reached  the  promised 
land,  and  were  welcomed  into  Salt  I^ake  City  by  Brigham 
Young  and  other  Mormons.  I  worked  hard  and  as  time 
rolled  on  I  built  a  nice  and  comfortable  house,  and  was 
saving  up  money  with  which  to  engage  in  business.  No 
man  was  happier  than  I  with  my  wife  and  darling  little 
girl  who  was  now  nearly  nine  years  old.  One  day  while  I 
was  about  my  work  I  was  approached  by  Brigham  Young 

who  said  to  me;   'Mr I  have  had  a  revelation,    and  you 

must  give  up  your  wife  to  me.'  I  was  so  astonished  that 
it  was  impossible  to  utter  a  single  word  for  a  few  minutes; 
I  burst  into  tears  and  said,  I  can't,  I  can't.  The  prophet 
hesitated  a  few  minutes  and  then  said,  'a  true  revelation, 
you  must  give  her  up.'  Then  I  was  almost  beyond  con 
trol,  and  with  all  the  anger  within  me  exclaimed,  'I  can 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  67 

not,  I  will  not!'  ,  He  stood  for  a  moment  and  then  slowly 
walked  away  and  said  no  more,  I  thought  to  myself,  can  it 
be  possible?  No!  No!  It  can  not  be!  Two  days  later  my 
work  called  me  to  the  mountains  several  miles  distant, 
when  I  returned  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  my  dear 
wife  and  child  were  gone.  I  waited,  thinking  perhaps  they 
were  out  at  some  of  the  neighbors  for  an  hour,  but  they  did 
not  return.  I  then  looked  for  the  money  (about  sixteen 
hundred  dollars)  which  I  always  left  in  her  charge  and  that 
was  gone,  I  then  looked  around  thinking  perhaps  she 
might  have  left  a  note  or  some  explanation,  but  not  even  a 
note  or  even  a  trace  of  them  could  I  find.  Their  best  cloth 
ing  was  all  gone  too.  I  enquired  of  the  neighbors  and 
hunted  for  them  but  no  trace  or  clue  could  I  get  of  their 
whereabouts,  except  that  one  little  boy  told  me  that  he  saw 
a  covered  vehicle  drive  up  to  the  house  and  stop  before  the 
door.  I  was  wild  as  I  walked  along  the  streets  from  door 
to  door.  For  months  I  roamed  the  streets  in  search  of  them, 
and  went  to  the  different  Mormon  colonies,  but  all  of  no 
avail.  I  almost  became  distracted.  For  a  long  time  I  con 
tinued  to  roam  over  the  mountains  alone  and  with  the  In 
dian  tribes.  Then  I  went  to  the  gold  fields  in  California, 
thinking  perhaps  to,  partly  at  least  alleviate  my  trouble;  but 
silver  and  gold  had  no  charms  for  me,  and  I  again  went 
back  and  wandered  through  the  streets  and  down  to  that 
desolate  home,  but  oh!  I  could  not  bear  to  look  at  it. 

At  last  I  traveled  back  to  the  old  homestead  where  the 
most  of  my  boyhood  days  were  spent.  As  I  neared  the  dear 
old  place  where  I  went  to  school,  the  school  house  was  gone 
and  nothing  remained  but  the  stone  foundation  in  the  cor 
ner  of  the  field;  but  my  memory  drifted  back  to  my  early 
school  days  when  I  was  but  a  jolly  boy,  and  the  old  spring 
on  the  hillside  where  Tommy  and  I  used  to  go  after  water 
had  dried  up  and  thistles  were  growing  there.  I  went  on 


68  THE  LOST  SHACKBL. 

a  mile  farther  past  several  of  the  neighbor's  homesteads,  but 
there  were  strange  faces  everywhere.  There  was  no  one  I 
knew  and  I  was  a  stranger  in  the  land.  I  wandered  on  to 
the  brookside  and  cast  a  look  at  the  dear  old  house  on  the 
hill.  Did  I  say  house?  No,  it  was  gone  and  the  place 
where  it  once  stood  was  all  covered  with  thorns  and  weeds 
higher  than  my  head.  Surely  I  thought  the  dear  old  well 
with  its  mossy  curbing  is  in  there.  I  ascended  the  hill 
step  by  step  dividing  the  weeds  and  briars  with  my  hands. 
At  length  I  stumbled  over  something,  the  old  door  step. 
Yes,  yes  it  was  the  old  stone  step  which  my  father  had  once 
put  there  when  I  was  but  a  small  boy,  and  Oh!  how  sad 
I  felt  to  call  back  to  memory  scenes  of  so  long  ago,  and  I 
thought  here  is  where  my  aged  father  died,  my  youngest 
brother  was  born,  my  brothers  departed  to  and  returned 
from  helping  to  fight  the  great  battles  of  the  rebellion,  and 
later  when  they  outfitted  to  cross  the  plains  to  the  far  west. 
Indeed  it  was  a  home,  a  home  for  all.  I  passed  on  to  the 
old  well,  but  it  was  now  dry.  The  moss  had  decayed  and 
fallen  off.  and  nothing  was  left  but  the  the  bare  cold  stone 
to  mark  the  place.  I  passed  on  through  the  old  grove  and 
orchard  with  their  broken  and  mossy  trees,  and  on  over  the 
garden  wall  to  that  dear  old  spot  where  my  mother  used  to 
have  her  flowers,  and  there  to  my  great  suprise  found 
amongst  the  weeds  the  morning  glories  blooming  just  the 
same  as  they  were  in  my  childhood  days.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  they  had  been  growing  all  these  years  waiting  for  us 
to  some  back,  with  tearful  eyes.  I  plucked  some  of  them 
together  with  some  wild  flowers  close  by  and  pressed  them 
in  this  little  cabinet  (and  at  the  same  time  the  poor  old 
man  took  it  from  his  inside  pocket  and  handed  it  to  Mathew, 
who  noticed  that  the  flowers  were  in  a  perfect  state  of 
preservation.)  The  pretty  lilac  bushes  that  were  in  the 
front  yard  had  grown  up  large,  but  seemed  to  be  like  my- 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  69 

self,  low  down  on  the  shady  side  of  life.  I  next  wandered 
along  the  brooklet  and  through  the  timber  where  there  used 
to  be  so  much  game  which  I  hunted  when  a  boy.  There 
still  were  the  old  birds  and  squirrels'  nests  but  not  a  living 
object  did  I  see.  I  thought  then  to  go  to  the  north  part  of 
the  field  (which  was  higher  ground)  that  I  could  once  more 
behold  the  beautiful  farms  that  I  had  once  been  so  familiar 
with,  and  perchance  see  some  of  my  old  schoolmates  even 
at  a  distance,  but  as  I  leaned  on  the  old  toppling  gate  and 
looked,  everything  had  changed,  and  there  was  not  a  living 
object  of  any  description  which  came  to  my  view.  They 
were  all  gone.  I  felt  so  sad  and  lonely  as  I  went 
back  to  the  silent  spot  on  the  hill,  and  once  more  and  for 
the  last  time,  stood  on  that  "dear  old  stone  door  step." 

Sadder  than  ever  I  came  back  to  the  mountains  and  in 
disguise  wandered  through  the  different  Mormon  colonies, 
and  at  last  once  more  through  the  streets  of  Salt  L,ake  City, 
but  all  of  no  avail.  I  thought  then  to  go  to  the  school 
play  grounds  at  noon  time.  Yes  Cora  was  there.  I  called 
Cora?  She  looked  up  at  me  and  went  away  playing 
with  the  other  girls.  I  said,  'I  will  go  away,  throw  off  my 
disguise,  and  then  she  will  know  me. '  When  school  was 
out  I  was  there,  and  said  as  she  started  home  'Cora!  don't 
you  know  me?  Your  papa.'  She  looked  at  me  as  one 
frightened,  (four  years  had  changed  my  black  hair  to  gray) 
and  ran  on.  My  poor  heart  was  broken,  and  I  sank  upon 
the  ground.  Two  days  later  I  found  myself  in  an  Indian 
camp  several  miles  away.  I  gave  up  in  despair  of  ever 
seeing  my  dear  wife  and  daughter  again,  and  cared  but  lit 
tle  what  became  of  me.  I  wandered  through  the  moun 
tains  alone  and  with  different  tribes  of  Indians,  and  finally 
settled  down  here  with  this  Indian  woman  as  you  see."  He 
continued.  "I  hope  God  will  forgive  the  man  who  so  cru 
elly  wronged  me."  And  then  said.  "I  know  of  untold 


TO  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

wealth  in  the  mountains,  but  I  care  not  for  it,  it  can  not 
make  me  happy.  "Well  my  old  friend, "said  Mathew, 
4  'your  history  has  been  of  great  interest  to  me,  though  a 
very  sad'one,  I  trust  that  in  a  better  land  all  things  will  be 
righted,  and  that  some  day  you  will  be  happy. 
"Put  gloom  and  sadness  far  away 

And  smiling  bid  goodbye  to  sorrow. 

The  clouds  that  shroud  your  brow  today 

Will  let  the  sunshine  in  tomorrow." 

Mathew  had  been  in  camp  nearly  a  week  now  and  was 
well  rested.  The  Indians  had  come  around  the  camp  sev 
eral  times,  but  did  not  molest  anything  belonging  to  him 
and  he  now  made  preparations  for  resuming  his  journey. 
The  old  man  seemed  to  feel  sorry  that  he  was  going  to 
leave  him,  and  as  he  clasped  his  hand,  he  said,  "Goodbye 
my  dear  boy,  I  trust  that  success  may  crown  your  efforts 
and  that  someday  we  will  meet  beyond  the  river  in  that 
happy  land." 

Mathew  now  started  on  his  way,  following  the  foothills 
according  to  the  way  he  had  been  instructed  to  go  in  order 
to  strike  a  pass  through  the  mountains.  The  old  man  had 
also  given  him  a  sign  that  in  case  he  came  in  contact  with 
Indians  in  the  valley  they  would  not  molest  him,  Mathew 
had  also  received  a  great  deal  of  useful  information  in  re 
gard  to  the  country  and  other  things  which  he  was  very 
glad  to  know,  and  it  helped  him  a  great  deal.  He  also  re 
ceived  a  sack  of  cornmeal  from  the  old  man  which  was 
highly  appreciated.  It  was  now  the  latter  part  of  July  and 
quite  warm  weather,  and  he  thought  it  better  not  to  travel 
too  fast  although  his  anxiety  would  hurry  him  on  much 
faster,  and  on  July  twentieth  he  reached  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  at  the  entrance  to  the  pass  to  which  he  had  been 
directed.  It  was  evening  time  now  and  he  took  up  camp. 
This  camping  place  reminded  him  so  much  of  familiar  scen 
ery  on  the  Yellowstone  that  his  mind  drifted  back  more 


THE  LOST  SHAOKBL.  71 

forcibly  than  for  a  long  time  before,  and  through  the  night 
he  dreamed  of  home  and  friends  aud  with  a  mind  less  deter 
mined  he  might  have  been  tempted  to  give  up  his  quest  in 
despair,  but  he  felt  that  his  life  would  hardly  be  worth  liv 
ing  if  he  were  not  successful  in  finding  Lillian,  for  while  he 
was  satisfied  that  the  Indian  had  told  him  the  truth  about 
seeing  the  white  woman,  and  that  the  woman  was  Lillian, 
so  many  things  could  happen  in  a  year's  time. 

Mathew  had  not  been  feeling  well  for  a  few  days  or  he 
would  not  possibly  have  gotten  discouraged  so  soon  after 
leaving  the  camp  with  the  old  man;  but,  undaunted  he 
pressed  onward.  The  pass  in  the  mountains  was  quite  an 
available  one  in  going  from  the  lower  part  of  the  Gallatin 
valley  to  the  upper  Shields  river  and  Mussleshell  country; 
therefore  the  trail  was  a  well-beaten  one.  One  place  in  the 
canyon  the  high  rocky  cliffs  came  down  to  the  water's  edge 
of  a  shallow  stream,  and  one  going  through  had  to  travel 
up  the  creek  bed  for  a  considerable  distance,and  to  leave  it, 
had  to  turn  and  go  up  through  a  crevice  in  the  rock  about 
six  feet  wide  and  then  wind  around  the  mountain  side. 

Mathew  had  ridden  perhaps  one-third  of  the  way  to  the 
top  of  the  mountain,  when  he  heard  a  faint  rumbling  sound 
like  that  of  distant  thunder.  He  looked  about  to  see  what 
it  might  be.  The  sound  seemed  to  be  coming  nearer  and 
from  the  top  of  the  range  ahead  of  him.  Not  being  able  to 
discover  what  it  was,  he  hastily  turned  to  one  side  of  the 
trail  into  a  thick  patch  of  timber  to  await  the  outcome. 
The  sound  still  came  nearer  and  nearer;  soon  a  great  cloud 
of  dust  began  to  ascend  skyward. 


72  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Lillian  and  Lewanna's  discovery   of  a   beautiful  cave  in    the   moun 
tains.     Lillian's  sicknes.     A  dream  of  home. 

One  bright  morning  in  June  L,illian  and  Lew  anna  started 
out  for  a  ramble  through  a  portion  of  the  mountains  in 
which  they  had  never  been.  They  had  gone  many  miles  up 
a  gulch  before  they  were  hardly  aware  of  it,  being  attracted 
along  by  the  numerous  Wild  flowers,  the  beautiful  strange 
scenery  and  the  many  wjld  animals  feeding  or  resting  upon 
the  sides  ot  the  mountains,  the  mountain  sheep  high  upon 
the  rocky  cliffs  and  the  fleet  antelope  bounding  up  before 
them. 

And  it  was  long  alter  noon  before  they  thought  to  eat 
their  lunch  which  they  had  brought  with  them.  They 
were  hardly  through  eating  however  when  there  came  up  a 
cold  rain  and  hail  storm  during  which  they  grew  bewildered 
and  lost  their  way  and  could  not  tell  which  way  to  go  to 
get  back  to  the  camp.  They  traveled  on  through  the 
terrible  storm  with  the  hope  that  they  would  reach  camp 
before  darkness  came  on.  At  last  they  noticed  a  big  hole 
up  in  the  side  of  the  mountain  across  the  gulch.  They  at 
once  made  for  it  to  get  shelter,  as  the  large  hail  stones  were 
fast  falling  upon  them,  and  by  the  time  they  had  reached 
the  cave  they  were  literally  drenched  with  the  chilly  rain. 
They  sat  down  in  the  mouth  of  the  cave  and  waited  for  the 
storm  to  abate.  They  became  so  cold  and  numb  that  they 
could  scarcely  move  and  at  last  gathered  up  some  dead 
limbs  and  bark  from  the  scrub  trees  near  by  and  built  a  fire. 
It  was  almost  dark  and  still  stormy,  the  hail  then  being 
nearly  a  foot  deep,  and  they  well  knew  that  it  was  al 
most  certain  death  to  try  to  reach  camp  that  night.  After 
they  had  gotten  warm  by  the  fire,  they  thought  to  fix  up 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  73 

some  torches  and  go  back  into  the  cave  a  little  way.  They 
had  already  satisfied  themselve  that  it  was  not  inhabited  by 
wild  beasts,  as  there  were  no  signs  or  indications  of  it. 

The  entrance  of  the  cave  was  quite  large  but  back  a  little 
not  so  large  but  that  they  had  to  stoop  a  little.  This 
opened  into  a  spacious  room  with  cold  solid  rock  on  each 
side  and  overhead,  while  the  bottom  or  floor  seemed  to  be 
of  a  more  soft  foundation,  yet  not  soft  enough  that  walking 
upon  it  would  make  an  impression.  But  in  two  or  three 
places  they  noticed  the  plain  prints  of  an  Indian  moccasin.. 
The  room  at  last  narrowed  down  much  smaller  and  they 
passed  on  into  a  much  smaller  one  but  more  lengthy,  the 
floor  of  which  was  very  uneven,  sometimes  two  or  three 
steps  upward  or  downward.  There  were  a  few  crystals 
hanging  to  the  walls  scattered  around  here  and  there,  also 
a  few  beautiful  stalactites  suspended  from  the  ceiling  in 
different  places.  Their  curiosity  led  them  on  and  on 
through  the  zigzag  cavern,  from  room  to  room,  some  larger* 
than  others  with  many  curiosities  and  some  of  which  wer* 
much  more  interesting  than  others.  At  last  they  came  to 
a  larger  room  than  any  which  they  had  passed  through,  at 
the  farther  end  of  which  stood  a  very  large  grey  granite 
rock  with  crystalized  streaks  through  it  from  top  to  bottom . 
It  was  somewhat  tapering  at  the  top,  which  reached  to  al 
most  the  ceiling.  At  its  base,  and  between  it  and  a  smaller 
room  several  feet  away,  was  a  small  pool  of  dark  blue  water. 
The  small  room  beyond  the  pool  was  a  few  feet  higher  than 
the  one  where  the  pool  was  and  its  beauty  could  only  be 
seen  as  they  stepped  to  one  side  of  the  huge  rock  which 
was  directly  in  front  of  it.  The  room  was  full  of  the  most 
beautiful  crystals  and  stalactites  that  perhaps  human  eyes 
ever  witness  in  the  Rocky  mountains.  All  the  different 
colored  crystals  and  stalactites,  most  of  which  extended 
from  the  low  ceiling  to  the  floor,  some  part  way  while 


74  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

others  started  at  the  floor  and  rose  up  half  or  a  third  of  the 
way  to  the  ceiling,  Water  was  dripping  off  of  some  of 
them  and  draining  off  into  the  pool  below.  The  room  was 
so  filled  up  with  the  formation  that  they  could  not  enter  it 
and  could  only  stand  and  gaze  at  it  in  wonder.  The  girls 
looked  at  it  until  a  late  hour  and,  tired  out,  they  went 
back  to  the  smouldering  fire  at  the  entrance  with  a  promise 
that  they  would  sometime  visit  it  again. 

When  morning  dawned  it  was  bright  and  clear  and  they 
soon  found  the  way  they  wanted  to  go,  but  it  took  them 
several  hours  to  get  back  to  camp  as  it  was  much  farther 
away  than  they  anticipated .  Lillian ,  who  had  not  been  feeling 
well  since  that  night,  finally  succumbed  to  a  hard  spell  of 
sickness.  "Poor  girl,"  Lewanna  thought  as  she  smoothed 
back  Lillian's  curly  hair  from  her  forehead  with  her  hand. 
Lillian  had  now  been  sick  for  nearly  a  week  and  was  yet  no 
better.  Lewanna  took  the  best  care  of  her  that  she  knew 
how,  and  while  the  poor  girl  was  sick  she  thought  of  home 
and  friends  more  than  she  had  for  a  long  time.  In  her  de 
lirious  dreams  she  talked  to  her  mother  as  though  she  were 
by  her  side  and  frequently  asked  to  see  Mathew,  Bessie  or 
her  father.  Lewanna  in  her  heart  pitied  Lillian,  for  she 
had  told  her  all  about  her  home  and  friends.  Under  Le 
wanna  's  careful  attention  Lillian,  by  the  next  week,  was 
much  better  and  in  a  month  she  was  quite  strong  again. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  75 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  band  of  buffalo  and  Indians.  Mathew's  journey  northward. 
Evidence  of  Lillian's  captivity.  In  the  clutches  of  the  robbers.  A 
strange  dream. 

Mathew  stood  anxiously  waiting  the  outcome  of  the 
strange  rumbling  noise.  Now  an  unearthly  bellowing  be 
gan  to  thrill  the  air  with  all  the  force  imaginable.  A  few 
moments  more,  and  hundreds  of  buffalo  came  dashing, 
charging,  and  madly  rushing  down  the  mountain  side.  It 
was  indeed  a  majestic  sight,  as  they  passed  by  him,  some 
distance  away,  and  to  Mathew's  surprise,  a  band  of  several 
Indians  followed  them  on  their  cay  use  ponies;  yelling  and 
whooping.  They  were  no  doubt  driving  their  game  from 
an  enemy's  range,  and  were  so  elated  over  their  success, 
that  they  did  not  discover  him,  and  after  they  had  passed 
on  out  of  sight  and  hearing  Mathew  resumed  his  journey, 
and  finally  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountains  at  camp 
ing  time.  He  was  always  so  cautious,  that  in  camping  for 
the  night  he  would  leave  the  trail  for  a  considerable  dis 
tance.  During  the  night  he  was  awakened  by  a  cry  or 
scream  of  some  wild  beast,  which  he  thought  to  be  a  pan 
ther,  and  not  caring  to  be  attacked  by  one  in  the  dark,  he 
quickly  built  up  the  smouldering  fire,  which  had  nearly 
gone  out,  knowing  that  most  wild  animals  were  afraid  of  it. 
He  kept  up  a  blazing  fire  until  morning,  when  he  noticed  a 
well-beaten  path  some  thirty  yards  distance,  where  the 
mountain  lion,  as  he  could  tell  by  its  track,  had  walked 
round  and  round  him  many  times,  but  was  probably  afraid 
to  approach  nearer  the  blazing  fire.  He  indeed  felt  thank 
ful  that  he  had  avoided  a  night  attack  from  the  savage  an 
imal. 

From  the  mountain  heights,  where  Mathew  was  camping, 
the  scenery  was  grand  almost  beyond  description.     To  the 


76  THE  LOST  SHAOKEL. 

westward,  several  thousand  feet  below,  lay  the  beautiful 
Gallatin  valley,  surrounded  by  foothills,  low  mountain 
ranges  and  snow  capped  peaks  reaching  skyward,  while  a 
few  scattering  clouds, several  hundred  feet  below  him,  were 
slowly  passing  over  the  valley,  some  of  which  were  sending 
down  the  gentle  rain  drops  on  the  nutritious  bunch  grass. 

To  the  east  lay  the  Shields  river  country,  a  magnificent 
little  valley,  one  or  two  miles  wide  perhaps,  with  foothills 
on  either  side,  gradually  ascending  back  to  the  mountains, 
and  beyond  were  "the  old  Crazy  mountains,  towering  high 
in  the  air,  and  partially  covered  with  snow.  To  the  north, 
at  some  distance,  was  the  wild  Musselshell  and  Judith 
river  country,  with  its  grassy  hills  and  barren  peaks,  and 
away  beyond  was  the  old  Missouri  river,  boiling  "end  foam 
ing,  winding  its  way  through  the  sand  and  sage  brush 
country,  and  still  beyond,  the  high  peaks  of  the  Bear  Paw 
mountains,  covered  with  snow,  reminding  one  of  the  north 
ern  icebergs,  while  to  the  south  and  southeast,  many  miles, 
might  be  seen  the  famous  Yellowstone  river,  winding  its 
way  through  rocky  canyons,  and  down  through  beautiful 
valleys,  with  adjacent  foothills  extending  back  to  the 
mountains. 

In  all  it  was  indeed  an  interesting  view  to  Mathew,  as  he 
in  fact  had  seen  and  recognized  the  mountain  peaks  only 
a  few  miles  from  his  old  home,  which  he  had  left  nearly  a 
year  ago  and  it  is  easier  to  imagine  his  feelings  than  to  de 
scribe  them,  but  he  is  now  on  his  journey  descending  the 
mountains  on  the  east  side,  following  down  a  beautiful 
clear  stream,  which  headed  only  a  short  distance  from 
where  he  had  camped. 

For  several  days  Mathew  journeyed  on  without  much  of 
interest  happening.  At  length  he  crossed  the  low  range  of 
mountains  dividing  the  Shields  from  the  Smith  and  Mus 
selshell  river  countries,  and  he  was  now  descending  a  swift 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  77 


mountain  stream  northward.     At  noontime  he  stopped  for 
his   usual   meal.      There    was   a   spring   close   by   which 
seemed  to  boil  out  from  under  a  great  rock,  which  partially 
overhung  the  pool.     The  water  cress  grew  in  abundance  all 
about,  and  the  young   ferns  and   wild  flowers  made  it  very 
picturesque.     The  rock  was  peculiar  in  shape,  a  part  of  it 
rising  in  a  shaft  or  column,    while   the  base  was  broad  and 
the  whole  had  the  appearance  of  a  great  monument  of  lime 
stone.     At  the  top  of  the  rock  a  fish  hawk  had  its  nest  and 
from   the  appearance,  the  hawks  before  it  for  many   gener 
ations  had  used  it  for  this  purpose,  by  the  number  of  nests, 
one  on  top  of  the  other.      The   place   also  had  the  appear 
ance  of  being  used  as  a  camping  place  before,  as  there  were 
some  blackened   stones   piled   around   and   some  charcoal. 
Mathew  also  noticed  where  there  had  been  a  little  chopping 
done   on   several  small  trees,  years  before.     Therefore   the 
place  had  a  peculiar  interest   for   him  on   that  account,  as 
well   as   for   the   beauty  and  picturesqueness.      The   high 
rocky  cliffs  a  little  way  back  on  each  side  of  the  creek  made 
it  seem  more  wild  and  lonely.     After  he  had  eaten  his  din 
ner,    he  was  looking  about  the  old  rock,  and  happened    to 
'notice  some  marks  ot  some  kind  scratched  on  it,  which  he 
began   to   examine   with   great   interest.      Time   and    the 
weather  had  partly  obliterated  a  portion  of  the  inscription, 
but  he  at  last  found  a  clue  or  way  mark  that  brought  new 
hope  and  courage,  for  there    appeared  as  plain  as  could  be, 
the   initials    "L.  A.  M.  B."     He  traced    these   letters   out 
with  his  knife,  and  he  knew  it  could  be  none   other   than 
Lillian's  work      There  was    a   date   also,  but  he  could  not 
quite  make  k  out.     He  was  at  least  standing  in  the  place  in 
which  she  had  stood,  and  as  he  gazed  at  those   letters,    his 
mind  reverted  back  to  the  old  spring  by  the  "Lamb  Tree," 
and  his  eyes  filled  with    tears   as   he    thought  of  the  cruel 
hardships    she    must  have  gone  through  in  all   these   years 


78  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

with  the  savages.  Mathew  was  now  more  determined  than 
ever  to  search  until  he  found  her,  for  somehow  he  now  felt 
certain  he  would  be  able  to  do  so.  He  now  started  on  his 
journey  with  more  zeal  and  courage  than  ever,  traveling 
through  the  Musselshell  country.  There  was  plenty  of 
game  everywhere,  but  only  a  few  Indians  were  seen,  and 
fortunately  they  were  off  at  a  long  distance.  He  had  to 
use  the  greatest  precaution  traveling  through  this  part  of 
the  country,  as  he  had  no  compass  by  which  to  guide  him 
self,  and  he  was  going  across  the  country,  through  deep 
gulches  and  over  long  ridges  of  baren  hills.instead  of  follow 
ing  the  water  courses  as  he  had  usually  been  doing,  for  the 
reason  that  this  part  of  the  country  sloped  more  to  the  east 
and  northeast,  while  he  wished  to  go  almost  due  north,  or 
possibly  a  little  northwest.  The  weather  now  was  not  hot, 
but  dry,  and  under  almost  any  other  circumstances  he 
would  have  enjoyed  the  journey  very  much. 

One  day,  while  he  was  crossing  a  dry  creek,  his  horse 
sunk  down  with  him  about  six  feet,  the  ground  giving  way 
as  the  horse  put  his  full  weight  on  it.  The  animal  did  not 
struggle  much  as  he  had  been  through  so  many  snow  drifts 
at  different  times.  Mathew  sprang  to  the  solid  bank  in 
safety,  and  worked  hard,  digging  it  off  and  letting  it  roll 
down  into  the  hole  to  fill  it  up,  and  at  last  got  him  out  all 
right. 

Mathew  found  that  he  had  gone  entirely  too  far  eastward 
and  turned  his  course  more  to  the  northwest  and  crossed  the 
L/ittle  Belt  range  of  mountains,  then  down  the  Judith  river. 
At  length,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  August,  Mathew 
reached  the  "Big  Muddy,"  or  .Missouri  river,  or  rather 
came  in  sight  of  it,  it  being  about  one  half  mile  away,  and 
as  the  sun  was  going  down,  he  turned  into  a  patch  of  cot- 
tonwood  timber  to  camp  for  the  night,  and  as  he  did  so  he 
reflected  how  fortunate  he  had  been  so  far  on  his  journey. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  79 

However  he  had  gone  but  a  few  rods  into  the  timber,  whem 
he  suddenly  came  upon  a  horse,  with  saddle  and  bridle  on 
it,  tied  to  a  tree.  He  at  first  felt  glad  that  he  had  done  so, 
thinking,  perhaps,  thst  it  belonged  to  some  hunter  or  pros 
pector,  and  he  had  felt  lonely  all  day.  But  alas  for  his 
hopes,  for,  in  looking  around^a  little  more,  he  beheld  sever 
al  other  horses,  tied  in  the  same  way.  Apprehensive  fear 
at  once  crept  into  his  heart  and  he  wished  he  had  went  on 
to  the  river  bank  to  camp,  as  he  at  first  thought  of  doing, 
and  was  about  to  turn  to  leave,  when  to  his  dismay  he 
found  himself  surrounded  by  a  band  of  very  rough  looking 
men,  six  in  number,  with  as  many  carbines  pointing  di- 
rtctly  at  his  head. 


8o 


THE  LOST  SHACK  EL. 


THE  LOST  SHACKEU  81 

He  was  ordered  to  dismount.  He  soon  recovered  his 
self  possession  and  did  as  he  was  bidden,  knowing  it  was 
useless  to  resist  so  many. 

"We  will  teach  you  how  to  follow  stage  robbers,  you  in 
fernal  detective,"  said  the  leader  of  the  gang.  "You 
thought  to  entrap  six  strong  men.  We  have  you  in  our 
clutches  now,"  and  then  he  added,  "Have  you  anything  t* 
say  before  you  die?  If  you  have  you  had  better  say  it 
quickly." 

Many  strange  things  happen  in  this  world,  for  only  two 
nights  before  Mrs.  Bently  dreamed  of  Mathew.  It  was  the 
first  time  for  a  long  while,  although  he  was  almost  contin 
ually  in  her  mind  and  although  they  had  never  heard  of 
him  since  he  had  left  home,  yet  they  somehow  felt  as 
though  he  was  all  right  until  the  dream,  which  made  them 
very  uneasy,  still  they  mourned  his  absence  a  great  deal 
and  sometimes  almost  gave  up  in  despair  of  his  ever  re 
turning. 

"What  makes  you  so  melancholy  this  morning,"  said 
Mr.  Bently  to  his  wife  at  the  breakfast  table? 

"Well,  husband,  I  had  a  dream  about  our  dear  boy  last 
night,  which  somehow  weighs  heavily  on  my  mind  all 
morning." 

"What  was  it  wife,"  asked  Mr.  Bently,  somewhat 
agitated? 

"Well,  I  saw  him  just  as  plainly  and  he  looked  as  natural 

as  me  day  he  left  us,  except  that  he  was  very  pale  and 
trembling  as  he  was  being  led  away,  but  I  could  not  tell 
just  where  he  was.  He  had  a  chain  of  some  kind  on  his 
leg  and  I  heard  him  say  'I  am  innocent.'  His  voice  was  so 
natural  and  plain  that  it  woke  me  up.  I  turned  over  in  bed 
and  listened  but  everything  was  as  quiet  as  could  be.  For 
a  long  time  I  could  not  go  to  sleep,  but  finally  dozed  off 


82  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

again  and  dreamed  the  same  thing  over  again  and  once 
more  heard  those  same  words,  "I  am  innocent."  It  woke 
me  up  again  but  I  could  not  tell  what  it  meant." 

"That  is  very  strange,"  said  Mr.  Ben tly,  very  deeply 
concerned.  "I  am  afraid  something  very  serious  has  hap 
pened  him." 

"Oh,  I  wish  he  had  never  gone  away,"  said  Mrs. 
Bently  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 

The  more  they  thought  and  talked  about  it  the  more 
anxious  they  became  but  Mr.  Bently,  although  feeling  very- 
serious  himself,  tried  to  console  his  wife  by  saying,  "It 
may  be  he  is  coming  home." 

"No,  no,  I  cannot  think  so  from  my  dream,"  said  Mrs. 
Bently.  "Yet  it  might  be  possible;  but  if  we  do  not  see  or 
hear  from  him  in  a  day  or  two  I  shall  believe  that  we  will 
never  see  him  again.  My  dear  Mathew;  oh,  where  are 
you?' ' 

Of  course  the  dream  was  told  to  Mr.  Ainsley  who 
thought  it  quite  strange  but  could  only  hope  that  it  meant 
nothing  serious.  The  days  rolled  slowly  by  and  nothing 
was  heard  of  him.  Some  two  weeks  later  Mr.  Bently  went 
to  the  fort  for  his  mail  and  some  supplies  and  while  there 
happened  to  pick  up  a  Helena  paper  giving  a  long  account 
of  a  bold  and  daring  robbery  of  the  Helena  and  Ft.  Ben  ton 
stage  coach,  and  that  the  robbers  had  got  away  with  a  large 
amount  of  money;  and  later  in  the  same  paper  that  the 
coach  robbers  had  been  captured  by  a  detachment  of  cav 
alry,  also  giving  the  names  of  the  robbers  and  among  them 
was  M.  Bently. 

"Can  it  be  that  my  dear,  my  only  son,  has  turned  out  to 
be  a  robber, "  muttered  Mr.  Bently  as  the  tears  trickled 
down  his  cheeks.  "Would  to  God  he  had  died  when  a 
child." 

When  he  got  home   he  took   the  paper  slowly   from  his 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  83 

pocket  and  ^ith  a  trembling  hand,  handed  it  to  his  wife,  who 
already  noticed  him  looking  so  heart  broken,  and  as  she 
read  it  over  she  exclaimed  in  deepest  sorrow  "Thank 
heaven,  I  know  from  my  dream  that  our  own  dear  boy  is 
innocent."  And  then  she  exclaimed,  "Oh,  why  are  we  so 
tried?"  In  the  evening  they  took  the  paper  over  to  Mr. 
Ainsley,  who  read  it  with  a  sorrowing  heart.  Yet  the 
consoling  words  from  Mr.  Ainsley  seem  to  partially  alle 
viate  the  crushed  hearts  of  his  parents. 

"Oh,  it  does  seem  as  though  we  have  all  had  so  much 
trouble  since  we  came  to  Montana,"  cried  Mrs.  Bently. 
"I  do  wish  we  had  never  came  here,"  and  then  she  sobbed 
out  "Our  darling  boy  is  not  guilty," 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Mathew  a  prisoner.     His  escape.     Helpless  and  alone  in  the  moun 
tains  to  die.     Found  and  saved  by  Lillian  and  Lewanna. 

Mathew,  in  a  firm  and  brave  tone,  said  "Gentlemen,  you 
are  mistaken  in  your  man,  I  am  not  a  detective  but  am 
searching  for  a  poor  girl  who  was  stolen  away  from  her 
home  nearly  seven  years  ago  by  the  Indians. 

"What  nonsense,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  band. 

"True  as  I  live,"  said  Mathew,  and  he  told  them  all 
about  it  in  such  a  straightforward  manner  that  they  began 
to  doubt  his  being  a  detective  as  they  at  first  thought,  and 
he  told  them  the  clue  which  he  had  gotten  from  the  Indian 
and  also  the  initials  which  he  had  found  cut  on  the  large 
limestone  rock. 

"I  remember  of  seeing  those  letters  somewhere, "  said 
one  of  the  gang. 

They  now  began  to  believe  him,  but  they  had  much  at 
stake,  for  they  had  robbed  the  stage  which  was  running 
from  Helena  to  Ft.  Benton  and  had  secured  a  large  amount 


84  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

of  money.  They  held  consultation  as  to  what  they  should 
do  with  Mathew  and  concluded  that  he  would  at  least  haye 
to  remain  with  them  for  the  present. 

In  the  meantime  a  detachment  of  cavalry  had  been  sent 
out  from  the  fort  in  pursuit  of  the  robbers.  They  tracked 
them  across  the  Missouri  river  and  down  the  valley,  them 
off  into  the  foothills,  and  then  they  lost  their  trail  and  prob 
ably  would  have  passed  them  by  had  it  not  been  for 
Mathew 's  mule,  which  had  broken  its  rope  during  the 
night  and  wondered  out  on  the  hill  a  little  way  off.  They 
rode  up  to  it  and  found  that  it  had  either  been  ridden  or 
used  for  carrying  a  pack.  Cautiously  they  went  to  investi 
gate  the  vicinity  and  finally  found  the  tracks  where  the 
horsemen  had  entered  the  grove,  and  after  some  reconoiter- 
ing  the  soldiers  located  them  in  a  small  opening  in  the 
heart  of  the  little  grove  and  rode  in  upon  them  entirely  un 
awares,  as  they  were  just  eating  their  breakfast.  They 
were  at  once  ordered,  with  twelve  guns  pointing  at  their 
heads,  to  throw  up  their  hands,  which  they  did  without  any 
hesitation.  They  were  soon  all  handcuffed  and  shackled. 
Mathew  was  the  last  one  to  go  through  the  ordeal  and  he 
told  his  story  (in  short)  to  the  soldiers.  Some  were  will 
ing  to  believe  him  while  others  were  not.  At  last  he  tried 
to  prove  his  innocence  by  the  robbers,  who  by  the  way  had 
decided  that  he  was  a  detective  and  had  marked  the  way 
which  led  to  their  capture  and  would  say  nothing,  but  only 
looked  at  him  with  a  scowl.  The  soldiers  said  that  he 
would  at  least  have  to  be  taken  to  the  fort  and  stand  a  trial 
the  same  as  the  rest.  They  were  not  prepared  with  hand 
cuffs  for  him  but  had  a  shackle  with  which  they  chained 
him  to  the  saddle.  Mathew 's  heart  sank,  for  he  well  knew 
that  if  he  was  taken  back  he  would  be  executed  with  the 
robbers  as  one  of  them,  and  he  thought  to  himself,  "What 
shall  I  do?  God  knows  that  I  am  innocent."  He  breathed 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  85 

a  silent  prayer  to  God  for  deliverance,  and  now  he  deter 
mined  to  make  a  bold  break  for  liberty  if  the  opportunity 
was  offered. 

They  were  riding  almost  parallel  with  the  river,  and 
Mathew  was  riding  on  the  side  next  to  the  river.  His 
horse  seemed  a  very  mettlesome  animal,  and  taking  advan 
tage  of  this  as  a  ruse,  he  caused  him  to  get  out  of  line  sev 
eral  times,  and  one  time  he  got  so  far  away  from  the  gang 
that  he  thought  it  a  good  chance  to  make  a  break.  Sud 
denly  he  put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  started  toward  the  river 
with  all  the  power  wiihin  him.  Two  of  the  soldiers  started 
in  pursuit  and  hallooing  at  him  to  halt,  but  he  had  such  a 
start  of  them,  and  being  on  a  swifter  horse,  that  he  soon 
reached  the  river  bank  and  plunged  into  the  water.  The 
soldiers  fired  at  him  several  times,  but  the  bullets  whizzed 
harmlessly  over  his  head.  The  last  firing  was  just  as  he 
was  going  up  the  bank  and  into  the  brush  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river.  The  two  soldiers  now  abandoned  the 
chase  and  returned  to  the  company,  lest  there  might  be 
trouble  with  the  other  captives,  who  were  taken  to  the  fort, 
triedl  and  executed,  which  was  the  end  of  one  of  the  most 
daring  band  of  robbers  who  ever  operated  in  Montana. 

Mathew  felt  very  thankful  that  he  was  now  free  even 
though  he  should  perish  in  the  mountains,  rather  than  be 
taken  and  disgraced  by  being  classed  as  one  of  the  robbers. 

Yes,  he  was  free,  but  with  the  shackle  on  his  left  foot. 
His  bedding,  camping  outfit  and  everything  else  were  gone 
except  the  old  broken  knife,  which  he  had  reserved  as  a 
memento  when  he  buried  the  poor,  rude  brother  iu  the 
mountains.  He  would  not  have  had  it,  but  it  happened  to 
be  in  his  saddle  bags  on  his  saddle.  He  got  very  wet  in 
crossing  the  river,  in  fact  if  his  horse  had  not  been  a  splen 
did  swimmer  he  pobably  would  never  have  reached  the  op 
posite  shore  of  that  treacherous  stream.  As  it  happened, 


86  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

he  had  three  matches  in  his  vest  pocket,  and  they  were  a 
little  damp,  but  he  managed  with  the  last  one  of  them  to 
get  a  fire  started  and  keeping  his  eyes  on  the  cavalry  troop, 
until  they  were  well  out  of  sight,  dried  his  clothes.  He  had 
first  freed  himself  from  the  sad  die,  to  which  he  was  chained, 
by  cutting  the  leather.  He  did  not  travel  any  that  day,  as 
he  was  nearly  exhausted  from  the  trouble  he  had  just  gone 
through,  neither  was  he  able  to  get  anything  to  eat,  except 
a  few  berries  in  the  grove  where  he  was  camping.  When 
night  came  on,  it  found  him  without  anything  more  to  eat 
and  no  bedding,  but  he  made  himself  as  comfortable  as 
possible  under  the  circumstances. 

The  poor  boy  was   indeed   in   a  hard   position,  having 

nothing  to  kill  game  with,  neither  could  he  free  himself 
from  the  chain  and  shackle,  which  so  annoyed  him  in  try 
ing  to  get  about.  Although  he  had  tried  to  saw  or  cut 
it  in  two  with  the  old  knife  many  times;  but  he  still  had 
courage,  living  in  hopes  that  he  might  possibly  see  or  run 
across  some  one  who  might  be  able  to  give  him  something 
to  eat  or  help  him  in  some  way;  but  all  he  was  able  to  get 
was  a  few  berries,  and  once  in  a  while  a  rabbit,  which  he 
knocked  over  with  a  stone  or  club.  Day  by  day  Mathew 
grew  weaker  as  he  wandered  over  the  foot  hills  and  through 
the  mountains  until  he  became  so  weak  and  exhausted  that 
he  was  tempted  to  kill  his  horse  for  food,  and  then  he 
would  ask  himself  "How  can  I  do  such  a  thing?  No."  He 
said  to  himself,  "I  may  perish  on  these  bleak  hills,  but  I 
will  not  harm  my  dear  horse,  who  has  carried  me  safely 
over  so  long  a  journey,  and  carried  me  safely  to  freedom," 
and  he  again  thought  of  home  and  friends.  Mathew's  ap 
petite  at  last  left  him  and  he  was  so  weak  that  he  little  noticed 
where  he  was  going  and  the  horse  carrying  him  as  he  went 
slowly  on  grazing  up  the  gulch.  As  the  horse  was  ascend 
ing  out  of  the  creek  that  wended  its  way  down  the  gulch, 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  87 

poor  Mathew,  unable  longer  to  keep  his  place  in  the  sad 
dle,  fell  to  the  ground,  where  the  poor  fellow  lay  for  some 
time  unconscious. 

Finally  arousing  himself  enough  to  crawl  to  the  shade  of 
a  large  tree,  where  he  lay  scarcely  thinking,  so  little 
strength  and  courage  had  he  left.  It  happened  on  this 
same  day  that  Lewanna  and  Lillian  were  over  in  the  gulch, 
picking  berries,  wandering  about  from  bush  to  bush, 
rather  following  the  old  Indian  trail  down  the  gulch. 

Lewanna  noticed  where  something  had  been  dragged 
across  the  trail  and,  with  the  keen  curiosity  of  the  Indian, 
followed  it  up  until  she  found  Mathew.  She  was  very 
much  excited  and  called  to  Lillian,  saying,  * 'Found  pale 
face,  him  dead,"  and  they  went  together  to  where  he  was 
lying. 

It  was  with  strange  feelings  that  Lillian  now  beheld  the 
first  white  face  she  had  seen  for  nearly  seven  long  years. 
They  discovered  that  he  had  a  chain  and  shackle  on  one 
foot,  and  were  at  first  startled.  They  thought  he  must  be 
dead  and  then  Lillian  thought  she  noticed  a  slight  quiver  of 
the  eyelids,  and  being  a  brave  and  noble  girl,  went  to  him 
and  lifted  his  poor  head  to  her  lap.  Seeing  that  he  had 
only  fainted,  she  sent  Lewanna  for  some  water.  After  she 
had  bathed  his  temples  with  the  cool  water  he  partially  re 
vived  and  muttered  out  some  incoherent  words,  among 
them  was  "In-no-ce-nt. "  Lillian  had  at  first  thought  he 
might  be  some  escaped  robber,  by  the  shackle  on  his  foot. 
Seeing  that  he  was  very  weak,  from  hunger  and  exposure, 
she  gently  laid  his  head  upon  the  grass,  and  went  to  pre 
pare,  as  best  she  could,  something  from  her  own  luncheon. 
The  girls  had  brought  some  dried  venison.  This  she  sliced 
up  as  fine  as  possible  and  with  clean  stones  pounded  it  fine 
and  moistened  it  with  water. 

This  she  gave  him  a  little  at  a  time   until  he  had  begun 


88  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

to  revive  more  and  more.  At  last  he  gazed  earnestly  and 
surprisedly  in  to  her  face  and  said  faintly  "Lillian." 

She  was  almost  frightened,  poor  girl.  She  had  not  heard 
that  name  spoken  for  so  long,  the  Indians  calling  her  Lee. 
She  scarcely  could  see,  so  astonished  was  she,  and  looked 
bewildered. 

"Lillian,  don't  you  know  me,  Mathew  Bently?"  he  said 
faintly. 

"Oh,  can  it  be  my  dear  old  friend  Mathew?  It  is,  it  is," 
and  she  bent  down  her  head  and  sobbed  for  joy. 

After  her  first  burst  of  emotion,  she  said,  "Oh  Mathew, 
how  came  you  here?' ' 

"I  was  searching  for  you,  dear  Lillian,  and  you  have 
saved  my  life,"  he  said  as  he  held  her  hand  in  his,  and  then 
he  noticed  her  glancing  down  at  the  chain  and  shackle,  and 
he  said,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "Oh,  my  dear  Lillian,  I  am 
innocent  and  sometime  I  will  tell  you  all." 

"Yes  dear,"  she  said,  "it  worries  you  to  talk  much 
now." 

When  Lillian  told  Lewanna  of  her  discovery  she  seemed 
almost  as  glad  as  Lillian  herself.  They  stayed  and  cared 
for  Mathew  until  near  sundown.  He  was  too  exhausted  to 
talk  much  but  the  joy  at  discovering  Lillian  was  better  to 
him  than  medicine  or  food.  Lillian  determined  if  possible 
not  to  let  any  of  the  Indians  know  of  their  discovery,  and 
as  Lewanna  had  become  a  Christian  and  was  a  staunch 
friend  of  Lillian's,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  get  her  co-oper 
ation. 

It  happened  at  this  time  that  all  the  able  bodied  warriors 
were  off  somewhere  on  one  of  their  raids,  and  the  girls  con 
cluded  to  go  to  the  camp  and  after  the  Indians  were  asleep 
get  some  bedding  and  such  other  things  as  they  would  need 
for  him  and  come  out  and  care  for  him  through  the  night, 
and  then  return  in  the  morning  before  the  Indians  awoke. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  3* 

As  they  started  to  leave  him  the  poor  fellow  motioned  to 
Lillian  as  though  he  was  afraid  to  let  her  go,  but  she 
assured  him  of  her  speedy  return  and  he  seemed  satisfied. 
She  had  found  his  faithful  horse  grazing  a  little  way  off,  and 
brought  him  near  and  picketed  him  out,  after  removing  the 
saddle,  which  she  brought  and  laid  down  at  Mathew's  side. 
As  the  nights  were  quite  cool,  Lillian  built  a  fire  for  him 
and  now  with  a  fond  clasp  of  the  hand  the  girls  left  him 
and  as  soon  as  expedient  returned  with  the  supplies. 

For  nearly  two  weeks  these  two  noble  girls  cared  for 
Mathew.  He  gained  very  slowly  at  first,  but  more  rapidly 
later  on,  and  during  the  time  they  laid  plans  for  escape. 
Le wanna  had  within  her  a  noble  soul  and  helped  them  all 
she  could,  although  it  nearly  broke  her  heart  to  think  of 
parting  with  Lillian,  yet  she  determined  to  be  true  to  her 
and  the  right. 

These  two  weeks  held  much  for  Lillian  and  Mathew. 
There  were  a  great  many  questions  to  ask  on  both  sides 
and  when  Mathew  was  strong  enough  he  explained  to 
Lillian  how  he  came  to  be  wearing  the  shackle.  In  the 
meantime,  the  girls  had  removed  it  by  breaking  the  lock  in 
some  way,  as  they  had  tried  several  times  to  cut  it  in  two. 
Yet  the  all  absorbing  question  of  escape  was  most  on  their 
minds,  for  they  feared  the  warriors  would  soon  return,  and 
if  they  did  would  undoubtedly  find  out  their  secret,  and  if 
they  should  they  knew  not  what  might  be  the  outcome,  as 
Lewanna  heard  them  say  more  than  once  that  if  Lillian 
tried  to  escape  they  would  kill  her.  Their  plans  were  care 
fully  laid  and  they  decided  to  start  on  Wednesday  night,  it 
now  being  Monday  evening.  The  moon  then  was  at  its 
full  and  was  slowly  appearing  in  the  eastern  horizon  when 
Lillian  and  Mathew  bid  Lewanna  an  affectionate  farewell, 
Lewanna  assuring  them  that  she  would  not  reveal  anything 
•oncerning  them. 


$o  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

They  felt  that  their  journey  would  be  of  great  hardships 
and  danger.  Matthew's  horse  was  in  good  condition,  and 
Lewanna  was  so  kind  as  to  let  Lillian  take  her  horse  and 
saddle,  they  being  the  ones  which  the  warriors  had  brought 
to  their  camp  during  the  summer  and  given  to  her.  This 
horse  was  also  in  fine  shape  for  the  journey.  Lillian  indeed 
felt  very  sad  at  leaving  Lewanna,  whom  she  had  learned  to 
love  almost  as  her  own  sister.  Yet  when  she  thought  of 
going  home  to  her  dear  friends  it  filled  her  heart  with  joy. 

"Well,  Lillian,"  said  Mathew,  after  they  had  been 
started  a  little  while,  ' 'we  must  make  the  biggest  ride  of 
our  journey  tonight,  for  we  must  cross  the  Missouri  river 
by  daylight  tomorrow  morning." 

"Well,  I  am  sure  if  we  can  do  that  Mathew  we  will  be 
quite  safe  from  the  tribe.  But  I  am  afraid  you  are  not 
strong  enough  yet  for  such  a  trip,"  said  Lillian. 

"Oh  yes  I  am,  I  think.  While  I  am  not  fleshy  yet  I  am 
feeling  quite  well  and  strong' '  said  Mathew. 

By  sunrise  the  next  morning  Mathew  and  Lillian  came  to 
the  river.  Of  course  they  had  slackened  their  speed  some 
time  before,  so  their  horses  would  not  be  too  worm  to  go 
into  the  water. 

About  a  mile  from  the  river  they  passed  some  wagon 
tires  and  other  irons  in  a  pile  where  it  looked  as  though 
two  or  three  wagons  had  been  burned  a  day  or  two  ago. 

"The  Indians  must  have  done  that."  said  Mathew,  as 
they  passed  it.  Of  course  they  were  in  too  much  of  a  hurry 
to  look  around  more  or  they  would  have  seen  evidence  of  a 
hard  fight  between  emigrants  and  the  Indians. 

As  they  rode  down  to  the  water's  edge,  Mathew  recog 
nized  the  place  and  exclaimed,  "This  is  the  very  place, 
Lillian,  where  I  gained  my  freedom,  and  that  grove  you 
see  yonder  on  that  creek  is  where  the  robbers  were  and 
there  is  where  the  soldiers  chained  and  shackled  us." 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  91 

"Oh,  Mathew,  I  am  so  glad  you  got  away,' '  ex  jlaimed 
Lillian  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 

After  they  had  crossed  the  river  and  got  out  of  sight  of  it, 
they  stopped  to  rest  their  horses  and  let  them  feed,  while 
they  ate  some  venison  and  berries  which  Lillian  was 
thoughtful  enough  to  put  up.  After  a  good  rest  they  re 
sumed  their  journey  southward  but  not  quite  so  rapidly. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  warrior's  discovery  of  Lillian's  disappearance.  Levranna's  cruel 
treatment.  Matthew  and  Lillian's  journey  home.  Their  narrow 
escape  at  a  miner's  camp.  Home  at  last.  Their  greeting. 

When  the  Indians  found  that  Lillian  was  gone  (the  war 
riors  just  returned  the  night  after  Lillian  and  Mathew  had 
started)  they  questioned  Lewanna  very  closely  but  she  was 
faithful  to  the  last,  and  gave  them  no  clew  to  her  where 
abouts.  They  tied  her  to  a  tree  and  left  her  all  night  alone 
in  that  position,  but  she  would  not  tell  them  anything,  but 
prayed  not  only  for  Lillian's  safety  but  for  her  own  people. 
Some  of  them  went  in  pursuit  through  the  mountains  for 
several  days  but  finally  gave  up  finding  her. 

They  were  very  angry  at  Lewanna,  as  they  believed  she 
had  something  to  do  with  Lillian's  escape,  as  her  horse  and 
saddle  were  also  gone,  and  they  treated  her  with  more 
cruelty  in  consequence.  f 

For  three  days  and  nights  Mathew  and  Lillian  traveled 
steadily  and  wearily,  only  stopping  long  enough  to  feed 
their  horses  and  eat  a  lunch  and  had  met  with  no  serious 
accident  or  seen  a  living  being  except  once  a  band  of 
Indians  at  quite  a  distance  off,  but  they  saw  a  great  deal  of 
wild  game  of  different  kinds. 

On  the  third  day,  as  they  were  descending  a  gulch  on 
their  way  over  the  mountains,  they  were  very  much  sur- 


9*  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

pri»«d  to  run  into  a  camp  of  four  miners.  They  were  so 
engrosed  in  their  work  that  they  did  not  at  first  notice  us. 
They  had  their  sluice  boxes  and  seemed  to  be  washing  out 
gold  and  were  very  much  startled  at  Mathew's  salutation. 
One  of  them  at  last  recognized  Mathew  as  the  young  man 
whom  they  had  met  and  camped  with  nearly  a  year  before, 
and  after  hearing  his  story  advised  him  to  go  back  home. 
But  now  finding  that  he  had  been  successful  in  his  under 
taking  warmly  congratulated  him.  They  seemed  glad  to 
see  them  but  looked  with  rather  strange  eyes  at  the  white 
woman  dressed  in  the  Indian  garb,  and  were  quite  interested 
in  their  brief  story.  It  was  nearly  noon  time  and  the 
miners  invited  them  up  to  the  camp  for  dinner.  The  re 
quest  was  accepted  thankfully. 

While  they  were  eating  their  dinner  they  were  surprised 
by  a  half  dozen  Indians  whom  they  espied  down  where 
they  had  been  mining.  They  had  left  their  pans  there 
with  considerable  gold  in  them.  The  men  began  firing  at 
them,  at  the  same  time  the  Indians  were  returning  the  fire 
which  brought  into  view  many  more  from  over  the  hill. 

Mathew  and  Lillian  sprang  for  their  horses,  knowing 
that  they  had  nothing  in  which  to  help  make  a  defense,  and 
away  they  rode  over  the  hill  in  the  opposite  direction  and 
down  the  gulch  as  fast  as  they  could  go.  The  firing  still 
continued  and  an  occasional  war  whoop  reached  their  ears 
as  down  the  rocky  gulch  they  rode.  They  did  not  check 
mp  until  they  were  far  from  the  scene.  No  one  will 
probably  ever  know  the  fate  of  these  miners  but  the  suppo 
sition  is  that  they  were  all  killed  and  to  this  day  their 
sluice  boxes  are  in  that  gulch,  but  undoubtedly  have  been 
washed  down  a  considerable  distance,  it  is  impossible  to  tel 
just  how  far,  as  there  have  been  several  land  slides  in  the 
gulch.  This  identical  place  where  they  were  mining  will 
probably  never  be  known. 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  93 

Mathew  and  Lillian  indeed  felt  thankful  that  they  had  es 
caped  the  encounter  with  the  Indians.  In  their  haste  to 
get  away,  Mathew  lost  the  shackle  which  he  tyad  once 
worn,  from  where  it  was  tied  on  the  saddle,  which  he  was 
taking  home  for  a  relic. 

Much  more  might  be  said  of  the  trip  through  that  rough 
mountainous  country  by  Mathew  and  Lillian,  but  we  will 
leave  a  great  deal  for  our  reader  to  imagine; 
suffice  it  to  say,  they  had  much  to  say  to  each  other  of  both 
past  and  future.  As  time  rolled  on  they  were  coming 
nearer  and  nearer  their  dear  homes,  and  with  much  anxiety, 
for  they  knew  not  what  might  have  happened  at  home  since 
Mathew 's  absence.  But  as  fortune  would  have  it  every 
thing  had  [gone  on  all  right,  although  their  hearts  were 
nearly  crushed  by  the  report  in  the  papers  of  Mathew 's 
capture  with  the  robbers. 

While  it  seemed  as  though  they  were  not  traveling  fast, 
yet  they  were  making  good  headway,  and  while  their  horses 
were  almost  tired  out,  they  pressed  them  on  with  a  prom 
ise  that  they  should  have  extra  care  when  they  got  home. 

Mr.  and  Mrs  Bentley  had  about  given  up  hopes  of  Math 
ew 's  return,  and  grieved  so  much  that  they  sometimes 
almost  wished  themselves ^dead;  the  Ainsley's  consoling 
them  as  much  as  possible. 

On  the  evening  of  October  sixth,  as  the'  sun  was  going 
down,  Mr.  Bentley  had  just  eaten  his  supper  and  walked  out 
to  the  gate  for  a  few  moments.  Some  way  he  |had  been 
thinking  of  Mathew  much  that  day>s  he  had^last  seen  him 
on  the  hill  where  he  waved  his  hat.  Mr.  Bentley  was  just 
turning  to  go  into  the  house  when  his  attention  was  at- 
tracred  by  two  horsemen  just  making' their'appearance  on 
the  brow  of  the  hill.  When  Mathew  rancl  Lillian  reached 
the  top  of  the  hill  Mathew  exclaimed,  ''There's  father  at 
the  gate."  He  took  off  his  hat  and  waved  it  in  the  same 


94  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

peculiar  manner  as  when  he  departed.  Tears  of  joy  came 
to  Mr.  Bently's  eyes,  for  he  well  recognized  that  wave,  and 
called  his  wife  to  come  quickly  who,  throwing  her  apron  on 
her  head,  came  out.  Mr.  Bently  full  of  joy  exclaimed, 
*' Our  dear  son  is  coming,  I  know  it  is  Mathew."  They 
were  so  near  by  this  time  that  they  heard  what  he  said. 

"Yes,  father,  your  innocent  boy  and  your  long  lost 
daughter,"  Mathew  exclaimed  as  he  and  Lillian  sprang 
from  their  tired  horses.  Mrs.  Bently,  almost  overpowered 
with  joy,  exclaimed  with  a  happy  embrace,  "God  bless  you 
dear  children." 

Lillian,  of  course,  had  on  her  Indian  garb  and  was  badly 
tanned  but  still  those  beautiful  eyes  and  curly  hair  were  as 
natural  as  when  they  last  saw  her. 

After  they  had  composed  themselves  and  Mathew  and 
his  father  had  taken  care  of  the  horses,  they  all  went  over 
to  Mr.  Ainsley's.  Lillian  felt  almost  shy  of  them  at  first 
but  words  are  inadequate  to  express  that  meeting. 

They  were  not  long  in  dressing  her  in  her  proper  garb 
and  a  handsome  young  woman  she  was.  Both  families 
listened  with  absorbing  interest  to  Lillian's  story  of  her 
capture  and  captivity  and  her  mode  of  living,  and  Lewanna 
her  friend  and  her  fidelity,  also  their  travels  and  the  beauti 
ful  cave  which  they  had  discovered  in  the  mountains,  the 
discovery  of  Mathew  and  caring  for  him,  as  well  as  their 
narrow  escape  at  the  miner's  camp  on  their  return  home. 

They  were  all  not  less  interested  in  Mathew 's  travels 
and  description  of  the  Yellowstone  National  Park  and  the 
lone  Indian  whom  he  had  the  combat  with,  and  his  journey 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Gallatin  river,  and  the  poor 
Indian  whom  he  had  buried,  the.  clue  which  led  to  the  dis 
covery  of  Lillian,  the  story  of  the  poor  old  broken  hearted 
man  whom  he  camped  with  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Mis- 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  95 

souri  river,  the  drove  of  buffalo  and  the  band  of  Indians, 
and  his  trip  generally  to  the  north. 

"I  had  such  a  queer  dream  about  you,  Mathew,"  inter 
rupted  Mrs.  Bently,  "A  few  weeks  ago  I  thought  some 
thing  terrible  had  happened  you  and  then  we  saw  in  the 
paper  about  a  man  by  the  name  of  M.  Bently  was  captured 
with  some  stage  robbers  and  we  thought  sure  that  you  were 
dead." 

"Oh  yes,  mother,  I  didn't  tell  you  about  that  yet,"  and 
Mathew  went  on  and  told  them  how  he  had  accidently  ran 
into  the  robber's  rendezvous  and  was  captured  by  the 
soldiers,  also  about  them  putting  the  shackle  on  him  and 
his  escape,  also  his  hardships  and  starvation  before  Lillian 
and  Lewanna  found  him. 


9&  THE  LOST  SHACKLE, 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

In  conclusion. 

In  a  few  weeks  there  was  a  quiet  wedding  at  the  farm 
house  and  Mathew  Bently  was  very  proud  of  his  sweet 
young  wife.  The  old  people  each  tried  to  vie  with  the 
other  in  doing  well  by  the  young  couple  and  they  were 
soon  comfortably  ensconced  in  a  beautiful  home  by  the  river 
side.  Bessie  had  grown  to  be  a  young  lady  and  spent 
much  of  her  time  with  Mathew  and  .I^llian.  She  still  has 
h«r  old  friend  Nero  who,  though  very  old,  loves  her  just  as 
well  as  ever. 


L,e wanna  felt  very  badly  over  the  way  she  was  treated  by 
her  people  and  was  very  lonesome  since  Lillian  left  her. 
Still  she  lived  the  same  Christian  life  which  Lillian  had 
taught  her,  and  always  treated  her  people  kindly  and  lov 
ingly,  but  often  wished  to  be  away  from  them. 

Several  months  after,  Mathew  and  Lillian  were  settled 
down  in  their  pleasant  home,  a  lone  and  homeless  Indian 


THE  LOST  SHACKLE.  97 

came  oue  evening  at  dusk  to  their  door.  Mathew  heard 
the  light  rapping  on  the  door  and  opened  it.  They  were 
just  at  supper  and  Bessie  was  there.  Mathew,  in  a  minute, 
recognized  the  poor  Indian  maiden  as  Lewanna  and  cor 
dially  welcomed  her  in.  Llilian  sprang  to  her  feet  and  ex 
claimed  in  surprise,  "Oh,  Lewanna,  Lewanna,  I  am  so  glad 
to  see  you,"  and  then  turning  to  Bessie  Lillian  said,  "Bes 
sie,  this  is  Lewanna  who  for  nearly  seven  long  years  was  a 
very  dear  friend  to  me  and  true  to  the  end." 

Lewanna  told  them  her  plain,  simple  story  about  the 
braves  returning  and  how  she  .had  been  mistreated  by  her 
people  ever  since  Lillian  had  made  her  escape  and  that  she 
could  not  live  with  them  in  peace  and  then  she  added, 
"And  I  came  to  you  LilHe." 

"I  am  very  glad  you  did  Lewanna,"  said  Lillian. 

"Yes,"  said  Mathew,  "and  as  long  as  we  have  a  home 
you  shall  be  as  one  of  the  family." 

"Oh,  tank  you,  tank  you,"  exclaimed  Lewanna  in  her 
broken  language,  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 

They  got  clothing  for  her  and  made  her  feel  at  home  as 
much  as  possible,  and  she  seemed  happy  and  contented. 
Lillian  took  great  interest  in  teaching  her  how  to  cook  and 
do  other  housework.  For  three  years  she  was  with  them 
and  at  last  married  a  wealthy  young  rancher  and  they  now 
live  on  a  beautiful  ranch  in  the  mountains  some  ten  miles 
from  Mathew  Bentley's.  Lillian  and  Lewanna  often  visit 
each  other  and  sometimes  with  their  devoted  husbands 
wander  over  to  the  "Old  Lamb  Tree." 

It  happened  that  one  time  when  Mathew  and  Lillian 
were  visiting  Lewanna  at  her  mountain  home,  a  large  black 
bear  was  about  to  carry  off  one  of  the  ranchman 's  fine  young 
calves  and  Lewanna  and  Lillian  seized  the  rifles  and  shot 
old  bruin  through  the  heart.  Mathew  and  the  ranchman 
were  very  much  surprised  when  they  returned  from  their 


98  THE  LOST  SHACKLE. 

stroll  and  Mathew  unjoin  ted  one  left  foot  and  leg  at  the 
knee  and  took  it  home  for  his  cabinet.  In  looking  through 
his  saddle  bags  one  day  he  discovered  that  he  had  brought 
home  the  mule  shoe,  and  Lewanna  gave  him  one  of  her 
bracelets  which  she  had  worn  for  many  years  and  which 
he  noticed  she  was  wearing  when  he  came  to  himself  in  the 
Bear  Paw  mountains. 

Several  years  later,  as  the  author  was  traveling  through 
the  mountains,  his  business  called  him  to  a  beautiful  ranch 
where  he  was  invited  to  remain  for  dinner.  He  could  not 
help  but  admire  the  beautiful  home,  as  everything  was  in 
perfect  order  and  the  table  filled  with  all  the  delicacies  of 
life,  prepared  in  the  best  of  manner  by  Lewanna's  own 
hand  and  she  was  as  neat  and  tidy  as  could  be.  Two 
handsome  children  blessed  their  home  whom  they  called 
Mathew  and  Lillian. 

About  this  time  a  great  mining  excitement  broke  out  in 
the  gulch  where  the  miners  were  supposed  to  have  been 
killed  and  Mathew  Bently  went  there  to  plat  and  lay  out  a 
town  site  and  the  men,  while  plowing  and  grading  the 
streets,  found  the  shackle  and  showed  it  to  Mathew  who 
recognized  it.  He  exclaimed,  "Gentlemen,  I  have  worn 
this  shackle  but  I  was  innocent  of  any  crime." 

THE  BND. 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc.^ 

Makers 

Stockton,  Calif. 
PAT.  JAN.  21.  1908 


914482 


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